Here and Now
by KyLewin
Summary: Sequel to Time and Again. Naruto has gone back in time from a war ravaged future and has a chance to set things right, but despite his efforts things seem to be worse rather than better. Akatsuki, Orochimaru, Danzo... some jinchuriki have no luck at all.
1. Prologue: Time Rolls Forward

Prologue: Time Rolls Forward

o

A/N: To head off any confusion, if you are reading this and haven't read "Time and Again" then you're about 400K words behind and really should go read that story first as what follows will make very little sense otherwise.

For those of you who _have_ read "Time and Again," please note that the scenes in this chapter, while in chronological order, are often separated by several weeks or months. They're almost completely detached from each other until near the end when part of a growing plot begins to appear, but even then they mostly stand on their own. I tried to have _everyone_ (at least all of the main genin teams) show up to some degree so you could see some of their growth, but it really became ridiculous (and mind draining) trying to come up with plots for all of their scenes, so I scaled back my plan significantly (as in, practically no one outside of Team Seven shows up). These were the only important scenes anyway.

o

o

Pain raced through his body and Naruto threw his head back and screamed… or at least his body did. Naruto's consciousness felt like it was hovering just far enough away to be aware of the actions of his body and his torturers, but not completely connected to the pain.

Not yet, anyway.

He'd feel it eventually, when his concentration slipped or when he woke up after the pain grew so great that his body had forced him into total unconsciousness, but for the moment he was at least partially disconnected.

Iruka had called it going to a "safe place" and "blocking out what you don't want to experience." Ibiki had given it some technical name that Naruto couldn't remember. Jiraiya had told him it was something to learn if you planned on ever being dumb enough to be captured alive. Naruto had once thought it a bunch of mumbo-jumbo that he didn't need to worry about because of how amazing and unstoppable he was… he knew better now.

He'd been terrible at it the first few times he'd tried, but only a few weeks into his captivity he was a master of the highest order. He'd had to be, his only other option was to go crazy and he really didn't want to do that, though there were times where it was really tempting even though Orochimaru probably wouldn't allow it to happen.

As strange as it sounded, he actually had some very nice things going for him while in this hell. Orochimaru couldn't kill him – which _wasn't_ that great of a thing as it prolonged his suffering – and he couldn't destroy his mind either. That took away some of the fear factor and scaled back the level the torture could escalate to. Once Naruto had conquered the pain (to a degree), Orochimaru no longer had anything that was effective as a threat.

It wouldn't last, of course. Soon he'd be too tired and too drained to keep detaching himself from the pain, but for the moment, he was safe… sort of, anyway.

Besides, anything he could do to keep Orochimaru distracted and away from Sasuke and Konoha was worth the pain that he'd feel when he returned to his body.

Another scream and this time Naruto actually felt some of the pain. His concentration was wavering, but he could hold on a little longer. He needed to come up with a plan for what to say or do when he was consciously back in his body and being questioned.

_'Something funny,'_ he thought with a mental smile. That was usually the best way to piss Orochimaru off and end the torture. The punishment for making light of the whole thing wouldn't be fun, but laughter was supposed to be good for the body, maybe it would all even out in the end.

Something hot jabbed into him and then twisted as the smell of searing flesh filled the room. Naruto screamed yet again, and this time he was in his body when it happened.

"Alright… alright… please, no more," he whispered as he looked up at his interrogators, his blond hair so heavy with perspiration that it hung down in front of his eyes.

Orochimaru stepped closer. "Well?"

Naruto smiled, knowing it would probably be the last time his mouth would make that motion for at least the rest of the day.

He was right.

ooo

The four large men moved quietly through the unfamiliar woods, their every step carefully placed and almost completely silent. The forest seemed devoid of all life that wasn't a plant of some sort. Even the insects were gone for the moment. Each whispered silent thanks for that, the mosquitoes and gnats in the Fire Country had been brutal during the late spring and early summer, before the weather grew hot enough to force even them into hiding during the midday heat.

The war was still only a few months old, but already the Kumogakure's forces were making headway into the Fire Country. They still had a long ways to go before they reached Konoha – at which point marching on the capital would be a mere formality – but things were going as well as could be expected at this point.

The leader of the scouting party, a dark skinned man with reddish-blond hair slowed and then stopped next to an enormous tree, lifting his hand to signal the others to stop as well.

"Did you hear something?" he asked softly.

The closest to him shook his head. "Area seems deserted; I don't think there are even worms in the soil."

The third in the row scowled. "I don't like it," he whispered. "We lost two patrols in this area within the last three days. Something's here."

The first sighed, placing his hand against the tree. "_We're_ here, but I don't know why."

"It's part of an important corridor into the Fire Country," one of his men pointed out softly.

It was a needless reminder; they all knew the route that they more or less had to take to get to Konoha. The first man didn't bother offering a retort. His team was not a made up of heavy infantry or even scout specialists. They were all well trained, quick moving, and probably would be able to escape anything they at least saw coming, but he suspected they were on one of the probing missions to see how far ahead of the main group they could move without encountering traps or enemy defensive positions.

No reason to waste perfectly good scouts by having them walk into traps and get killed, after all.

There were too few scouts from Kumogakure to risk having them go out until some of the traps and ambushes had already been discovered. Since the Kumo ninja corps was slightly larger in number than Konoha's and by all accounts had an advantage when it came to raw power, they could afford to send a few parties farther ahead of the main group so they could learn – based on who made it back – roughly where Konoha's defenses were.

It wasn't a great strategy and wouldn't be one that they'd use once they were farther in and the Leaf-nin were beginning to be pressed back, but for now it helped protect more valuable members until they were really needed. Of course, when you were the one being sent in to trigger the traps, it felt like a horrible strategy through and through.

Somewhere in the distance a great flock of birds suddenly began to chirp furiously. Everyone but the leader of the group looked up sharply, instantly on guard. He would have looked up, but was too busy frowning at his hand as it pressed against the tree. There were deep gouges that he could feel but strangely not see and, he pulled his hand back, semi-dried bloodstains on the tree.

He swore and reached for a kunai, but before he could get it into position, the air all around him seemed to shimmer and his vision of the forest twisted and bent as though viewed through swirling water. A stick snapped behind him and he whirled around as a pink-haired young woman stepped through the shifting image, her fist already moving forward. Her hand connected solidly with his teeth, shattering several of them and slamming his head back into the tree. By the time he hit the ground, he'd been swallowed up by merciful unconsciousness.

"Genjutsu!" the second man in the group cried as he brought his hands together. "Kai!"

The already failing illusion vanished completely and the cries of the birds grew even louder. Unnatural blue light filled the forest to their left and they spun towards the sight just in time to see Hatake Kakashi dash out of the bushes, blue lightning crackling in his fist.

The second member of the group was dead before he could even lift his hands to defend himself. The remaining two turned towards Kakashi as he seemed to vanish into the ground, their hands starting to form seals just as the bushes behind them spit out Uchiha Sasuke, his own Chidori chirping maliciously.

The third group member's chest seemed to explode as Sasuke plunged his fist through it, driving the body into the ground and reaching for a weapon in his thigh pouch as he began to turn to face the remaining Cloud-nin.

The sole survivor abandoned his attempt at ninjutsu and grabbed a sword from the scabbard strapped to his back. The thin blade came free without a sound. Sakura was in no position to help and Sasuke seemed off balance, though he had managed to draw a kunai for all the good it would do him against a larger and stronger opponent.

The blade cut through the air, but stopped halfway to Sasuke's head, as a large, brown-skinned snake had slithered its way up the Cloud-nin's body and drove her sharp fangs into his neck.

"Che, where's Kakashi?" Anko growled as she dropped from the trees overhead. "You little brats are lucky I got here when I did, or we'd have been out one Uchiha."

The Cloud-nin's body, still held up by the powerful snake suddenly was pulled down into the ground up to its neck – causing the snake to lose her grip on him, much to her annoyance. Kakashi rose up from the ground and looked at Anko with what seemed to be surprise.

"Oh, Anko-san, you've arrived already?" he asked, his mask shifting as he flashed her a carefree smile. His left hand reached up and scratched the back of his neck. "I wondered why he stopped moving."

"Should have known," Anko grumbled as she rolled her eyes and turned towards Sakura who was kneeling next to the man whose head she'd nearly split open. "How is he?"

Sakura looked up at her and smiled. "He'll be fine until Ibiki-san gets him. He's got a few broken teeth and a concussion, but nothing that'll impair his memory once he wakes up."

Anko nodded and then said, "That genjutsu came down early and he'd already figured out what was going on. You got lucky." She knelt next to the man and observed his face for a moment. "Don't punch him so high next time. A big guy like this, you should have aimed for just under the chin. That'll snap the head back and probably lift him off the ground. If he hadn't been right next to the tree, he might have recovered and then you would have been in deep shit." She glanced down at Sakura's hand and frowned. "Plus, you messed up those pretty hands you spend so much time moisturizing… seems like kind of a waste."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Sorry, Anko-sensei, I do better next time." She formed a few quick seals and then gently pressed against the cuts she'd received when she punched the Cloud-nin in the teeth. Her skin knit back together, leaving only small scabs behind.

"Don't _Anko-sensei_ me, Princess!" Anko snapped, looking exceptionally unhappy with the title, though Sakura suspected that she was just being grumpy as a matter of principle. Yugao had assured her on several occasions that Anko was actually quite fond of her. Nasty biting comments (and the semi-frequent punch or kick) were just her _unique_ ways of showing she cared. "What if one of these guys has a radio on and their friends hear you? I don't want my name being attached to anything you screw up!"

Sakura grinned. "What if I don't screw up? Can I call you Anko-sensei then?"

Anko's right hand smacked the back of Sakura's head as she stood. "By the time that happens, I'll either be dead or too senile to realize what you're calling me… but even then I'd rather you kept my name out of it."

"You're a harsh mistress, _sensei_…"

Anko held up her hand, two fingers pointing at her eyes and then pointed at Sakura, a – possibly forced – stern expression on her face. "Get back to your hospital, Princess. I hear that slug-hime has been missing you." She turned to Kakashi and said, "Team Kakashi has officially been relieved. Do you have your report?"

Kakashi handed her a scroll. "Not much has happened that we weren't already expecting. The mountains and denser forest funnel them through this area, just like we thought. Gai said there have been a few skirmishes near the foothills, but nothing major. Still just scouting groups, the main forces are farther north, though their scouts have been getting more frequent. It won't be much longer before we start seeing some of their real ninja."

Anko nodded. "Sounds fun. The Council's orders are to get back and get rested up. They'll probably be sending you and Sasuke back out here soon enough. Princess might be stuck on hospital duty for a while; more causalities have been coming in from the northeast. I wasn't briefed, but you can bet there have been more than 'skirmishes' up there."

Kakashi nodded. "It was bound to happen. Any word on…"

Anko shook her head. "Princess's new mommy is doing what she can, but no one's seen him in a while. That can't be a good sign."

"Alright," Kakashi said with a weary sigh. "Good luck, we'll see you soon, I suspect."

With that, Team Kakashi returned to their camp, gathered their things and erased any sign of their presence before beginning the journey back to Konoha.

Sakura tried to talk to Sasuke during the trip, but soon grew tired of the exercise. When he talked, it was usually either about Naruto or the war. Sakura knew everything he knew about the war and she didn't want to talk about Naruto.

Some topics were just too painful to bring up and she wasn't the masochist he was when it came to that particular subject.

ooo

The pain was almost constant and it kept him from really sleeping a lot of the time, but occasionally he managed a semi-sleep where most of his brain and reasoning shut down. He was still – he guessed – technically awake, but the semi-sleep let him dream or hallucinate from time to time and he usually woke feeling slightly less exhausted than he'd been before.

At the moment, strange visions of specter giant's feet and yellow spotted rabbits were dancing in front of his open eyes.

Suddenly, there was a creaking of his cell door and hurried footsteps.

Naruto blinked, the rabbits and giants faded mostly away, and then he slowly lifted his head and tried to see what was making all the noise. It wasn't easy to get his head up far enough to get a good view, the chain and collar around his neck kept him in a kneeling position with his arms pulled back and chained to the wall. After he finally got a look at the noise, he almost wished he hadn't. The light streaming in through the door was dim by most standards, but he'd been crotched over in pitch black for nearly two straight days so it was still enough to nearly blind him with its intensity as he peered through the dirty blond hair that was beginning to hand down in front of his face.

He felt a weird buzzing in his ears that he couldn't quite understand and suddenly a cool hand touched his face.

Naruto had long since been trained to flinch away from contact. In the world he lived in, a touch was either going to hurt him or signal him that he was about to be hurt.

This one seemed to do neither. It cupped his cheek and then ran softly up the side of his face and pushed his hair away from his eyes.

"Naruto?" Hinata whispered as her pale face came into focus. "Can you hear me?"

Naruto stared at her in confusion, but didn't answer her question. Hinata wasn't supposed to be there. She was… he couldn't think of where she was supposed to be, but she wasn't supposed to be with him.

He couldn't remember how long he'd been in Orochimaru's clutches, but it felt like months. He longed for his friends at times, but mostly he longed for them to stay as far away from whatever hell he was in as they could. The physical torture had started off as a near constant, but had died down lately. Naruto suspected that Orochimaru had realized that he was blocking out a lot of the pain for long stretches of the torture sessions and that preventing him from doing so would require enough pain to permanently damage him.

Naruto had also taken to giving Orochimaru gibberish seals when the pain grew too great for him. The first time he'd done it, he'd finished with a "modified" ram seal – dropping his index finger and turning the still upright middle finger to Orochimaru. Naruto had thought it was kind of funny for about half a second, then his broken finger convinced him otherwise. In addition to giving Orochimaru an excuse to hurt him more and, for very short periods of time, giving Naruto something to smile about, the false jutsu sowed seeds of doubt into Orochimaru's mind about the accuracy and usefulness of anything he got out of the torture sessions… or at least Naruto hoped that it did.

It was a bit of a blessing that he didn't really know an _actual_ time travel jutsu, if he did, he would have been sorely tempted to hand it over during the first week or two.

There was a clicking sound and suddenly his arms, which had been pinned back by shackles, fell limply to his sides. It was the first time in over a week that they'd been anywhere but in some painfully awkward position behind his back. The release of his arms made them feel uncomfortably tingly and almost completely unresponsive.

"Are you awake, dummy?" Sasuke's voice asked as Naruto's neck was freed as well.

Naruto turned his head so he could look at his other friend and found that he wasn't sure if he _was_ awake or not. To have Sasuke and Hinata here was like a dream…

And then his brain seemed to catch on to what was happening.

"S-sasuke?" he whispered hoarsely. It hurt to talk. It hurt to do anything, really. "Hinata-chan?"

They reached down, grabbed him by his thin biceps, and lifted him to his feet.

"Can you walk?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto tried to take a step and stumbled, but Hinata caught him before he could go all the way down. She pulled his arm over her shoulder, so that she was carrying most of his weight, and smiled kindly. "Don't worry, Naruto, I've got you."

They took a step together and it went much smoother.

Sasuke was at the door now, looking both ways carefully. "We need to get out of here. The others are holding Orochimaru's men off, but we aren't here to fight a war." He turned back to Naruto and said, "Before we go though, there's something I need to ask you. Why did Orochimaru want you so much?"

"Sasuke," Hinata said gently, "maybe we should wait until we're out of here."

Sasuke shook his head. "No. We need to know. If something happens and Naruto gets recaptured or killed while we're escaping, we need to know what Orochimaru wanted and what he's learned."

Naruto nodded weakly. "He w-wants a… a jutsu from me."

Hinata frowned. "What jutsu?"

"It… it doesn't h-have a name."

"What does it do?" Sasuke asked. "What are the seals?"

Naruto pulled his arm away from Hinata and brought his hands in front of his chest. "It… it fixes mistakes," he said, his voice gaining a little strength. "The seals are: Rabbit, Boar, Boar, Dragon, Boar, Boar, Boar, Ram…" suddenly his hand shot out and connected solidly with Hinata's head, knocking her into the wall of his small cell.

He opened his left hand to show the pinky finger that had been dislocated and then popped it back into place as best he could as Sasuke – who was now a dark haired ninja with a Sound hitai-ate that had two pieces of metal or hard plastic running along his jaw line – threw his hand forward. There were dark holes at the end of each hand that probably served as some sort of weapon, but in the cramped cell Naruto was able to simply grab him and lift him sharply off his feet. The ninja's head slammed into the low hanging ceiling with a loud thud and he went limp.

Naruto looked at where he'd thrown Hinata and found Tayuya glaring up at him. "How the fuck did you know?" she demanded.

He gave her a contemptuous look. "Even wearing Hinata-chan's image and voice, trash like you is still trash. I knew you weren't her almost from the moment I saw you." He rubbed his hand along his cheek where she had touched him and then gave it an exaggerated shake as if cleaning something off of it. "Plus, you left some sort of slim behind when you touched me."

She scowled and started to say something else, but he kicked her in the face, breaking her nose and silencing her for the time being.

Then he limped towards the door. The rescue might have been a ruse to try to get him to give up the jutsu that Orochimaru thought he had, but the door being open was real enough. Naruto stepped through, glancing one way down the hall and then turning to look…

"Hello, Naruto-kun," Orochimaru chuckled.

Naruto tried to back away or just to reply, but his voice wouldn't work and something warm was running down his chest and splashing loudly on the floor. He looked down in surprise and found that it was blood. _His_ blood. Lots of it. A sword had pierced his chest. He opened his mouth in surprise and more blood dribbled down his chin as he took a stumbling step back. Orochimaru stayed right with him.

"I've already told you this. The only way you get out of here is when you die and the only way you get to die is by telling me how to do your jutsu." He looked over his shoulder and said, "Heal him, Karin."

A young woman stepped around him and looked down at Naruto with her red eyes. Her hair was short and unkempt on one side, but long and combed on the other. As she knelt next to Naruto, Karin lifted the sleeve of her shirt, exposing pale skin that was marred by what looked like bite marks.

Naruto tried to pull away, not completely sure what she planned to do, but knowing what it would probably mean for him in the long run. Despite his attempts to stop himself, survival instincts kicked in the moment her skin touched his lips.

He bit deep, drawing the chakra from her, causing his wound to heal, and letting the fragrance of her skin fill his nostrils. She let him hold her arm in his mouth just long enough for the worst of the pain to subside before pulling away.

Naruto looked up at Orochimaru and closed his eyes for a moment, assessing what he could handle. For the first time in weeks he could feel chakra running smoothly through his system, not the way it did when the Kyuubi wasn't blocked off, but better than it had been. He wasn't sure what they'd been doing to him to keep his chakra suppressed, but they weren't doing it now.

He might never get such a chance again.

He pushed as much chakra into his legs as his weak body could handle and sprang to his feet, his hands already coming together to form seals.

Orochimaru's knee caught him in the stomach doubling him over and then fingers began to tap against his back.

Instantly, Naruto felt something go wrong with his body as chakra was cut off from flowing to the area that had been touched. It was a strangely numbing feeling that he hadn't experienced in a long, long time.

"Don't stop," Orochimaru growled when there was a pause in the attack. "You know what you have to do."

"Forgive me," a strangely familiar voice whispered in Naruto's ear.

He turned and looked up in the blank eyes of one of the many Hyuuga that he'd despised over the years.

Hyuuga Hiroshi's face was dirty and covered in signs of violence, a swollen lip with a hint of smeared blood still visible at the corners, a thin cut near his left eye that had only recently begun to heal, and a dark purple bruise surrounding his right eye. What must have once been white robs that he was wearing were tattered and gray, and his body was hunched over with the weight of defeat.

Naruto stared at him in shock for a moment, and in that time his near nonexistent chances of escape disappeared as Hiroshi's fingers swiftly made short work of the different tenketsu needed to completely disrupt the flow of chakra in his body. The Hyuuga did not meet Naruto's eyes again as he finished his work and then stepped back, head bowed and long, messy hair hiding his face like a drawn curtain.

"Thank you," Orochimaru chuckled. "I think that will be all until next time. Why don't you go clean yourself up?"

Hiroshi nodded numbly and stumbled away into the darkness, leaving Naruto powerless to do anything but stare after him until he was dragged back into his cell and once more chained to the wall and floor.

ooo

An enormous boulder slammed into the sand, showering the targets who had barely managed to dodge out of the way with tiny shards of rock and the cutting blades of sand. At least twenty other Sand-nin were facing similar predicaments, those who hadn't been crushed by the boulders, anyway. The mass of Rock-nin on the other side of the battle field were already preparing to send another volley at them, softening them up for the eventual physical clash that was sure to come.

The war between Sunagakure and Iwagakure was almost half a year old and had not been going well for Suna. They were heavily outnumbered by their enemies and, despite what they felt was better training, they often lost battles simply because of the numerical advantage that Iwa held over them. Because of that, they were forced to often fight by slowly giving ground while making the Rock-nin pay dearly for every meter of desert they took. It was a good strategy, but it couldn't go on forever. This battle was taking place less than fifty kilometers from Suna. The plateau that surrounded the village would have been easily visible on a clearer day.

Another explosion rocked the desert as a boulder slammed into a small sand dune completely obliterating it and those hiding behind it.

"Shit!" a young woman with dark hair cursed as she huddled against her own sand dune, covering her head as best she could to shield it from flying debris.

"Eiko-chan," the young woman with short brown hair next to her, Matsuri, yelled over the din of the battle raging around them, "I hope you were well named!"

Under less dangerous circumstances, Eiko would have glared at her teammate, perhaps even offered some sort of biting comeback. Matsuri was not a fan of fighting, but really didn't have much choice given the war going on. Since the outbreak of hostilities, she'd said the exact same thing every time they found themselves in a semi-dangerous situation. Eiko supposed it was her fate to get such stupid comments since the gods had given her parents who thought it funny to give someone growing up in a ninja village a name that meant "long-lived child."

Another explosion of rock slamming into sand shook the ground, it was closer this time. The Iwa shinobi had the range now and were going to decimate the Sand-nin.

"We have to get out of here!" Eiko shouted as she slid a little farther down the dune and stood. "We can't just stay here."

"Our orders were to hold the line here until reinforcements arrive," Matsuri reminded her, though the look on the brown-haired girl's face made it clear that she was all in favor of a retreat from the battle.

"I don't mean leave, I mean we can't keep hiding we need to…" her voice trailed off as she spotted something moving at high speed to the east of their position. It looked for all the world like a sand dune that had just decided it wanted to wander away from its spot without the aid of any wind. Actually, it was moving against the wind, which was impossible, or so she'd thought.

"Get down!" Matsuri yelled as another volley of rocks came at them.

Eiko pulled her eyes away from the strange sand dune and looked up in time to see a large boulder come down at her.

She didn't bother lifting her arms; nothing she was capable of would stop such a huge projectile.

At that instant, the migrating sand dune exploded. A huge gust of wind slammed into the boulder, pushing it of course while other boulders were caught by hands of sand and pulled out of the air. Eiko looked at the remains of the dune, but couldn't really see anything. It was as if a localized sandstorm had taken up residence in the middle of the battlefield.

The ninja from Iwagakure seemed just as perplexed as those from Suna, but were quicker to decide that the sand dune/storm was an enemy (which was reasonable, since it had stopped their attacks). Kunai rained down on the small sand storm, disappearing within it, but having no noticeable effect.

Eiko glanced to the side and noticed that more Sand-nin were peeking over their cover to see what was going on. There weren't many of them left from the group that had originally been tasked with slowing the advancing Iwa contingent until reinforcements could be rounded up from other areas that needed protecting.

Two large boulders slammed into the sand storm, this time having a noticeable effect, but probably not the one that the Rock-nin expected. The boulders that struck the storm stopped after about half of their masses had entered it and then cracked and fell to the ground.

The desert floor began to rumble, nearly knocking Eiko to the ground as the loose sand of the dune she was standing on shifted under the earthquake.

Suddenly, the sand around the mini sand storm dipped down as if being drawn into a funnel, the broken boulders that the Rock-nin had lobbed at the area vanished into the shifting desert floor, and then a great spout of sand shot out of the storm arcing its way towards the Rock-nin forces. In the bright sunlight of the midday desert, it was hard to look up for any length of time, especially in that direction, but Eiko's brief attempts revealed several dark shapes somehow riding atop the sand.

Just as the sand was about to slam into the ground near the Rock-nin, it suddenly shifted its trajectory, smoothing out its descent and then swirling into a near perfect sphere. No sooner had the sphere formed than it exploded outward. The Rock-nin nearby were instantly either killed or at least knocked to the ground. As the sand settled, Eiko could clearly see four shapes where the center of the sphere had been. Two of them moved in one direction, a third the opposite way while the fourth remained standing where he or she had landed.

The Rock-nin who had escaped the initial attack were now advancing on the intruders, breaking cover and moving towards them. One member of the group of two – that looked strangely crouched, almost as if it were crawling along the ground for some reason – suddenly sprang forward, and engaged the enemy shinobi up close. Weapons were thrown at him, but they were either dodged or somehow avoided as he moved amongst the enemy, dropping ninja left and right before returning to the other member of his group.

The one who had gone in the opposite direction was producing enormous gusts of wind, throwing Rock-nin away as if they weighed nothing.

It took a few seconds, but the two groups of fighters eventually created enough confusion that the Sand-nin who had been on the verge of being routed finally realized the advantage that was being created for them and launched their own offensive. They were barely halfway to the group of strangers when the three returned to the one who had remained where they'd landed.

Eiko wasn't close enough to seem much in the way of details about their saviors, but she was close enough to see the stranger who hadn't moved lift a hand over his head and then slam it down on the ground. The sand around them exploded in all directions like water fleeing the impact zone of a large rock that had been dropped into a still pond.

The Sand-nin turned to flee, but there was no need. The sand coming towards them seemed to hit a wall and then fall harmlessly to the ground. The Rock-nin weren't nearly so lucky.

When it was all over, the remaining Suna shinobi approached the battle site cautiously, but the Rock-nin that had survived – probably well over half their group, though it didn't matter at this point – were so confused and disorganized that the mop up battle was more of a slaughter than anything. The four strangers who had caused the chaos that gave Suna the victory were nowhere to be found, but in the distance, Eiko thought she saw a dune moving back towards the east.

"What _was_ that?" Matsuri asked as she stood next to Eiko and surveyed the area for any remaining survivors.

"Reinforcements, I think," Eiko replied.

Matsuri shook her head, a look of disbelief on her face. "The way the sand moved… it was like someone was controlling it."

"How many _sand_ users have you heard of?" Eiko asked.

"Not many."

"I've only heard of one," she said with a sigh, still looking towards the last spot she'd seen the moving dune.

Matsuri hesitantly nodded in agreement. "Don't talk about it," she warned Eiko so softly her voice could barely be heard over the desert wind and the distant sounds of small skirmishes. "_His_ name isn't one we should even whisper back home."

"But…" A gloved hand pressed against her mouth before she could voice her argument.

Matsuri's wide, dark eyes held a hint of fear within them. "_Don't_ talk about it," she whispered again. "We're not important, so no one will ask our opinion. If it was him, then it's weird that he helped us, but it doesn't really matter to us. If it wasn't him, then there's no reason to ask for trouble by bringing him up. Just forget it happened."

Eiko sighed and nodded reluctantly. They'd all been briefed on the treachery of the Kazekage's children and the events that surrounded it. Mentioning Gaara, Temari, or Kankuro was inviting some serious inquiry into one's past and current actions.

Not many who lived through such inquiries escaped without being transferred to far more dangerous posts… not that there were many _safe_ posts anymore.

ooo

"Why do you keep doing this?" Karin asked as she sat panting next to Naruto in the darkness, trying to recover from healing his latest set of injuries. "He'd let you go if you'd just tell him what he wants."

"He'd kill me," Naruto growled back without much strength.

She snorted. "Of course, but wouldn't that be better than this?"

"You're bored of healing me?"

He couldn't see her roll her eyes, but he was certain that she did. "No, having my chakra pulled out of my body to keep your sorry ass alive is my _favorite_ thing in the whole world."

Naruto sighed and let his head fall back against the wall, trying to hold his arms as still as possible to keep from sharp edges of his shackles from cutting into his skin. He knew what they were doing. It was so painfully obvious that he was ashamed that he hadn't noticed it as soon as Karin started spending time in his cell after healing him.

He supposed that the weeks of complete isolation – with a few breaks for some sort of torture – were beginning to get to him. Even if it was just another form of torture, he wanted someone to talk to.

Karin was simply trying to earn his friendship so she could betray him later. It would take a while, but Orochimaru was nothing if not patient… sometimes, anyway…

A part of him wondered if she'd even deny it if he asked her. He wouldn't risk it. If it was decided that him knowing meant that it wouldn't work, they might take away his only source of non-torture related human contact.

And, when she was in the room, he was relatively certain that everything he was seeing was real. That and a little companionship were probably the two things he craved most, above even a steaming bowl of ramen and a good night's sleep in his bed back in Konoha.

Every once in a while, Orochimaru allowed Naruto to go long enough without Hyuuga Hiroshi attacking his tenketsu that his keirakukei opened back up – at least partially – so he was more vulnerable to genjutsu. Usually at that point Sakura, Sasuke, Hinata, or one of his other friends showed up to rescue him and ask him about why he was a captive. Noticing that he could feel chakra was generally the first clue that he was in a genjutsu, but sometime he woke up in it and was so disoriented that it was hard to remember what was going on until they tripped themselves up or he regained enough of his senses to figure it out. There had been a few close calls, but for the most part it was a wasted effort on their part.

He suspected that Orochimaru had them do it not so he would give up the secret, but just to mess with his head and make him miss his friends that much more… which probably led back to Karin sitting and talking with him.

Naruto hadn't seen much of Orochimaru in the past few days – at least he _thought_ it had been a few days, it was hard to tell in a dark cell – which meant that when he came back he wouldn't care about asking Naruto for the jutsu, he'd just regale him with stories about Konoha's defeats and people that were known to be dead. Naruto wasn't sure how much of the stories were true, but he was afraid that Orochimaru delighted in terrible truths more than horrifying lies.

Usually whenever Orochimaru left, Karin spent a lot more time with him, even when he didn't need any healing.

Naruto hated himself for looking forward to her visits, but he couldn't help it. She was one of the few people whose presence didn't mean he was about to be tortured or interrogated or humiliated or any of the other things that his captives enjoyed doing to him.

On the other hand, he knew a little about her, and with that he could try to mess with her as much as she was trying to mess with him. He'd never met her in the future, but he'd read everything he could on Sasuke and his little team. The information Konoha was able to gather on her – and that he could remember - was pretty minimal, but there had been some juicy bits that he could use.

If he was being honest, he'd have to admit that it wasn't likely to succeed and if she threatened to leave and not return if he didn't stop, he'd probably give real consideration to stopping, but it was something to pass the time. Plus, it made for interesting conversation.

"It must have been rough," he whispered, "growing up in a brothel."

He heard the quick movement of cloth and hair and suspected that her head had just snapped towards him. He could easily imagine the murderous glare that was probably in her eyes. "What did you say?!?" she demanded, suddenly not sounding so friendly.

"Your mother," he said with as much strength as he could muster, which wasn't much. His throat was horse from too little water and too much yelling while his captives tried to get the information they thought he had. "She worked in a wh… a brothel, right?"

A hand grabbed him by the remains of his shirt, pulling him forward slightly and causing the shackles to cut into his wrists, but she released him after only a second and he could hear her moving away from him. "Who told you that?" she whispered.

Naruto did his best not to smile. "O-Orochimaru. He doesn't… think much of you… thinks you're too much like your mom."

"Orochimaru-sama thinks…" her voice trailed off. She was quiet for a long moment and then she said, "Yes, it was hard."

"Where… are you from?" he asked.

She chuckled. "Are you planning on paying to get your jollies sometime soon?"

Naruto shrugged, though she couldn't see it and he instantly regretted the motion as it caused the shackles to cut into him again, "I've got a lot of free time on my hands, you never know."

He heard movement in the darkness and suddenly the sweet smell of her skin filled his nostrils as she stood very close to him. "I don't know where it was," she whispered, "but my memories of it make what you're putting yourself through look like a nice walk in the park. Those bastards just came in, used her for her body and her abilities and then left her a crying, filthy heap on the floor. Some of them made me stay in the room while they used her…" she paused and then leaned in so close that he felt her long hair brush against his face. "And I am _very_ aware of the fact that a lot of the guards that watch over you know about what I came from. Don't think you can drive a wedge between me and Orochimaru-sama so easily. He saved me from ending up just like her; nothing you can say will change my opinion of him."

Naruto was quite for a long moment and then whispered, "He's not using… your body, but… is he really doing anything d-different from those men… when it comes to your… abilities?"

She slapped him, hard. Before he could say anything else or even apologize, assuming he wanted to, the door on the far side of the room was flung open, blinding him with the sudden burst of light, and then slammed shut as she left.

He didn't see her for over two weeks, even when he probably could have used her healing abilities. Naruto didn't try messing with her head again after that.

When she finally returned, he was so grateful he wept in relief.

ooo

The room was dark and stuffy, like a cave of death. Really, that wasn't too far from the truth. There wasn't any death in there yet, but those who entered couldn't help but feel that it wouldn't be long in coming. Jiraiya probably entered more than anyone else, except maybe Tsunade, and every time he did he couldn't help but think that it was probably the last time.

"I'm heading out," he called softly into the darkness where he could hear the raspy gasping of breathing that was the only real clue that there might be another time where he was called into the room.

"What clue… are you following this time?" the voice of the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, whispered out of the darkness.

The weakness in the voice was heart wrenching to Jiraiya. The Third had been like a father to him – though his actual father would have been a little hurt to hear it – knowing how much he'd deteriorated in such a seemingly short period of time drove home the fact that whatever had afflicted him really was destroying him.

"It's not concrete or anything, but a contact said there was a rumor of Orochimaru being seen in the Grass Country."

"That is a long ways from Oto," Sarutobi rasped. "Could it just be another false lead?"

Jiraiya lowered his head. "Probably," he admitted, "but no one else will look into it."

"Jiraiya…"

"Don't say it," Jiraiya growled more forcefully than he'd intended. "Tsunade will figure something out. I'm not taking your job."

A wet coughing fit drove the anger from him and drew him farther into the room until he was kneeling next to the frail Hokage's bed. Sarutobi had a handkerchief against his mouth and by the time the fit finally subsided, it was damp with dark blood.

"Please…"

Jiraiya closed his eyes, feeling hot tears burning against his eyelids, "I… can't. If I'm Hokage…"

"You could… o-order someone to do it…"

"They'd fail. _I'm_ failing and I'm better than any of them."

Another cough, but this time it didn't start a fit. "Konoha… n-needs you."

"Konoha needs Naruto."

"I'm dying," Sarutobi whispered. "I won't last forever. Someone… someone must take the title…"

Jiraiya rocked back, suddenly understanding. "What did they say," he demanded.

Sarutobi shook his head weakly, refusing to answer.

The Village Council, a portion of it anyway, had been in to see his old sensei again, Jiraiya was certain of it. Their insistence on him picking a successor was growing more frequent and impatient. The law dictated that a living Hokage who had not been mentally incapacitated would be the one to choose his successor (provided the Council approved the candidate, which it had in every instance thus far). The Council wanted a new Hokage, but they couldn't strip Sarutobi of his powers unless he died, went crazy, or at least lost consciousness for a long period of time.

So far, that hadn't happened, but some members of the Council were arguing that his suborn refusal to give up his position was a sign that he _had_ been mentally incapacitated since he should have known the time had come. It was a weak argument that was only entertained because of the war and the fact that under normal circumstances Sarutobi probably would have acquiesced to their demand that he pick a successor.

The problem really was that neither of those he'd picked would take the job.

Jiraiya was convinced that he would be a terrible Hokage and that finding Naruto was a greater priority. He'd been away from the village long enough to distance himself from the strong protective feelings one normally had for their home and knew he didn't have the political subtlety needed to deal with the brood of vipers that had clawed their way up to into the Council.

Tsunade was even worse. She didn't even want to be in the village at all. She'd softened slightly, agreeing to help in the hospital – often from a distance, as the sight of blood still caused her hands to tremble unless dire circumstances required her to subdue her fears through force of will alone – and had taken up training Haruno Sakura whenever the young woman wasn't out on missions, but by she still routinely talked about her desire to leave. And had twice packed up her belongings only to be talked out of it by the combined forces of Jiraiya and Shizune, who usually had to resort to pointing out that her skills where needed to keep Sarutobi alive.

Jiraiya sometimes suspected that Tsunade was teaching Sakura everything she could so eventually she'd be able to claim that Konoha didn't need her anymore.

He was certain that there was a lot of backstabbing and plotting going on behind the scenes in the Council, as some of them tried to position themselves to be appointed should Sarutobi die before either he or Tsunade were worn down and gave in to the appointment. In some ways, it would have been better if Sarutobi had simply died quickly, before anyone could try to manipulate the process. At least then need would have outweighed greed.

He looked down at his frail sensei and sighed. "We'll talk when I get back. Hold on until then. I'll see if I can't trick Tsunade into coming up here in the meantime, maybe you can talk her into becoming Hokage while I'm gone." He turned to go, but stopped and, with a small smile, suggested, "What you need to do is convince her to play a hand of cards with the bet being that if she loses she has to be Hokage. She'll be in those robes in no time."

The old man smiled, and then began coughing again, his whole body shuddering with the effort as his lungs seemed to rebel against his body. Jiraiya did his best to sooth Sarutobi, staying with him until the fit subsided, and then beat a hasty retreat.

When Sarutobi was in that much obvious pain, it was harder for Jiraiya to keep refusing to agree with anything that was asked of him.

He didn't have to search for Tsunade; she was waiting for him outside the door, her back pressed against the wall and her eyes narrowed despite the confusion clearly written on her face.

"He's getting worse," Jiraiya told her needlessly.

"I won't do it," Tsunade told him flatly. "I've given this village everything I had, it doesn't get anything more."

Jiraiya nodded. "I know."

She skeptically accepted his agreement with a quirk of her lips, but didn't press him to say what she thought he was thinking. "You're going out again?" she asked instead after a moment of silence.

"The Grass Country. A contact claims Orochimaru might be there."

"Do you believe him?"

"Not particularly, but it's better than sitting around here getting talked into a job I don't want."

She reached out and touched his hand, hesitantly at first, but then with more confidence when he didn't pull away. Her fingers closed around his and she looked into his eyes. "You would be a good Hokage," she whispered.

Jiraiya smiled, giving her hand a little squeeze. "You're just saying that so you won't feel bad for not taking it no matter how much a sick old man begs you."

She shook her head, her eyes telling him that she didn't want him to treat it like a joke. "No, of all of the Sannin, you always would have made the best Hokage."

Jiraiya let go of her hand and placed his on her shoulder, leaning over so their heads were level. "I always felt the same about you," he said with a wide sincere smile that reminded her a little of her brother, Nawaki. It was a bittersweet thought, but then everything that reminded her of Nawaki was.

She turned away from him, forcing the old pain down, and asked, "How long will you be gone this time?"

"Depends on what I find, but probably only a couple of weeks." He paused and glanced towards the door behind which Sarutobi was laying in the darkness. "Will he…"

Tsunade smiled a little. "Yes. He's dying, but it's not quite as bad as you think." Jiraiya started to protest, but Tsunade stopped him. "I'm not saying that he's faking his symptoms, he's just not letting you know that it isn't as bad as it looks. I've slowed down whatever it is by treating the symptoms. I can't seem to heal him, but I can keep him around for a while. As long as he stays in bed and nothing unexpected happens, it'll be months before he gets as bad as he lets you think he is."

Jiraiya frowned. "I'm not misinterpreting what he's going through by _that_ much. He coughed up more blood while I was in there… even I know that's a bad sign."

Tsunade sighed, seeming to deflate a little. "I thought I had that under control. I'll have to come up with a new treatment. It was going to happen sooner or later, but I thought it would be later."

"If it'll be months before he's as bad as he seems…"

Tsunade shuffled her feet uncomfortably, looking like she wanted to lie, but unwilling to do so to him. "Whatever he has seems unstoppable, but it's also slow moving. If I stay on top of things, he could be in near constant pain for close to a year before his body reaches the tipping point. If I leave him alone, it'll be over faster, but the pain will be more intense. I'm not sure which would be the more merciful thing to do."

Jiraiya didn't know either. "You're sure he'll last that long?"

"Not totally, but I think he'll hold on as long as humanly possible, maybe longer knowing him."

Jiraiya digested the news thoughtfully and then said, "Try to keep the Council off his back and see if you can't trick them into thinking he's on the mend. We need to buy time while I find Naruto."

He turned and started to leave, but stopped with Tsunade whispered something he didn't quite hear.

Jiraiya glanced over his shoulder to find her staring at the floor, blond hair hiding her face, and hands clenched in tight fists at her side. "What did you say?" he asked.

Still looking at the ground, she turned her head to the side and softly said, "It's hopeless. You're a fool, putting your faith in something that's impossible… I'm sorry, but you'll never find him. He's probably already dead and laying in some unmarked mass grave. And besides that, if he _is_ alive, he's only one chuunin. Even if he is a jinchuriki, what good could he possibly do?"

Jiraiya stared at her for a moment, his eyes hard and anger splashed across his face, then he turned away and said, "Keep Hokage-sama alive, Tsunade-hime. I'll be back soon, hopefully with Naruto… maybe then I'll forgive you for what you just said."

ooo

The door to his cell swung open, bathing the previously dark room in excessively bright light. Naruto squeezed his eyes shut and turned away from it as several men entered and began undoing the shackles around his wrists and feet.

His arms fell limply to his side as soon as they were no longer being held up and he toppled to his side. His head hit the hard, dirty floor, but he didn't even twitch.

They unlocked his feet and reached to pull him up.

The moment they touched his arms, he struck. Two quick blows to the throats of the nearest men dropped them instantly. Then he rolled up onto his shoulders and kicked out at the remaining two who were near his feet. One took a kick to the nose, and Naruto felt a satisfying crunch under his heel, but the other was quicker and avoided the attack by simply taking one step back.

Naruto cursed as he rolled back over his shoulders and tried to get his feet firmly under him. He'd hoped to at least hurt all four in the first flurry of movement, giving him enough time to steal a weapon and finish them off. Starved and weak, he stood no chance against them now.

The ninja advanced on him calmly, his back to the bright lit door making it difficult for Naruto to even look at him.

Naruto took one step back and then he was against the wall. It was over. He still couldn't feel his chakra from the last time Hiroshi had blocked it off, he had no physical strength after so many near-sleepless nights and minimal food, and Kyuubi was blocked off from him. A sane person would realize that there was nothing he could do, but Naruto wasn't sure how sane he was anymore.

The ninja's fist slammed into his head.

Naruto hadn't even seen the blow coming. He staggered to the side, then dropped low and tried to sweep his captor's feet out from under him. His leg connected perfectly with the larger man's knee… but nothing happened.

"Is that it?" the ninja chuckled. He grabbed Naruto on either side of the head and drove his knee into the blond's face.

This time it was Naruto's nose that broke. He went down with a slight groan and lay in the dirt, gasping and spitting blood as it ran from his nose into his mouth, choking him as he breathed it in.

The ninja stepped closer, reaching down and grabbing Naruto by the throat and dragging him up and off his feet.

"Give up, brat," the ninja snarled. "You're nothing compared to a _real_ ninja."

Naruto closed one eye, blocking the sight of the doorway so it would stop irritating him, and did his best to ignore his desperate need to breath.

Then he smiled, a gruesome scene with so much blood on his face, and slammed his hands against his enemy's ears. To his credit, the ninja didn't instantly drop Naruto as he stumbled back, but it might have been better for him if he had. Naruto grabbed him by the wrist and used all of his strength to drive both of his knees up and into the man's stomach and groin.

This time the ninja did go down, dragging Naruto with him. Naruto quickly pulled himself away from his opponent, offering a few kicks to the man's face for good measure as soon as he was able, and then turned to find the other three that had come in now standing between him and the doorway.

"Shit," he grumbled.

"What the fuck is taking so long?" Tayuya's angry voiced called out from the light of the door. "Knock his scrawny ass out and let's go! We've got a long ways to go today."

A fifth figure stepped away from the wall near the doorway, Naruto hadn't seen him earlier and wondered if he'd been there the whole time or had entered during the fight, not that it really mattered at this point. The three who had been there the whole time rushed him, quickly overwhelming his tired attempts at fighting back. It only took a few seconds for them to subdue him, pinning his arms at his side and keeping his legs from kicking at them.

The fifth man stood before Naruto, his head bowed, and whispered, "Sorry, Naruto-san."

Naruto recognized the voice and knew what was coming next. Three Juuken strikes later, he was unconscious and the Sound-nin were free to begin transporting him to their new base.

ooo

Hinata felt strangely light without her Chuunin vest after having practically lived in it for the past month and a half while she, Kiba, Akamaru, Shino, and Kurenai were in the field. She wished she was back out there on a mission. She wanted to be with her teammates scouting for Cloud-nin incursion forces and traps. If she couldn't have those things, she would have accepted training with Neji as an alternative, though that was impossible at the moment as he and his team were supposed to be near the frontlines for the next few weeks.

She _did_ not want to be observing a meeting between her father and a member of the Village Council.

Unfortunately, she had little to no choice in the matter. Hanabi would normally have been the one to sit through such things, but this time her father had specifically asked her (in a voice that told her the question mark at the end of his sentence was only there for punctuation reasons, not because it served any functional purpose) to join him, and so she was stuck.

"You can see the difficult position we are in, Hiashi-san," the Council member said as he began to get to the point of the meeting after nearly thirty minutes of talking in riddles and using the intentionally vague words of a trained politician. "In such drastic times, certainly drastic measures are needed. We must think of the village ahead of outdated loyalties and traditions."

Hiashi pressed his fingers together and lightly rested his chin against them as he thoughtfully considered his reply. "Traditions are important, but you're right, the good of the village must come first in times such as these."

"Then you will back our proposal?"

"No."

The thin man almost gasped in surprise, Hinata could briefly see his anger on his face before he covered it once more. "I beg you to reconsider."

"I will," Hiashi said with a small incline of his head, "when new evidence presents itself. For now, I fear I am not sure I see the good of the village in your leader's proposal. Hokage-sama is sick, but not dead and I have spoken with him personally in just the last week, he is still far from mentally incapacitated."

"The longer we go with an ailing leader, the more the morale is sucked from the village."

"It has been many months since he took ill," Hiashi conceded, "and we will need a new leader sooner rather than later, but the precedence that you propose to set is a dangerous one. It places the Council over the Hokage."

"You're being overly cautious." Political speak seemed to have abandoned the Council member.

"On the contrary, I believe that I am being just cautious enough. The Hyuuga may one day back your proposal, but not until Hokage-sama is farther along or things grow worse."

The Council member took a deep breath and then stood and gave a curt bow. "I thank you for your time, Hiashi-san. I hope that you will find the evidence you need to show you this is the only path available to us since Jiraiya and Tsunade will not accept the position."

Hiashi inclined his head. "Let us both hope that one of them changes their mind; then this matter will be moot anyway."

The Council member bowed once more, a little stiffly, Hinata thought, and then excused himself. She waited for a moment longer and then turned to her father, her eyes asking him the question she couldn't politely voice: 'What the hell was that all about?'

"The Council is growing ever bolder," Hiashi answered her, his eyes still locked on the door the Council member had stepped through a moment earlier. "Soon, we may have no choice but to go along with their plans."

"B-but you said…"

Hiashi nodded. "In times such as these, loyalty must be handled carefully. We will side with Hokage-sama until it is obvious that those in the Council seeking change have gained too much political backing to be denied. At that point, we will either agree with them or risk being on the wrong side of what could become a coup."

Hinata's eyes widened. "How long b-before we have to d-decide?"

Hiashi shook his head. "Months, maybe; days, perhaps. Politics moves at a strange pace. Sometimes it rushes forward, others it drags its heels. If the other clans feel as I do, then it will take some time for them to be convinced. Few will want to be the first to make their move in a volatile situation like this, but some might be bold enough. If enough do then others will follow. It will become a tidal wave if enough are swayed early."

"How c-could they do something l-like this while we are in a war?"

"Hokage-sama is ill, deathly so. I have been told that Tsunade-hime can keep him alive for months, but the longer he goes without showing his face, the more the fear of the genuine concerned Council members – and the greed of the opportunistic ones – will build." He finally turned his face away from the door and met her gaze, "Do you understand now why I asked you to sit with me? When you are the leader of our clan, you will have to deal with situation such as these from time to time."

Hinata inhaled slowly through her nose, filling her lungs, and then let the breath roll out through her lips as she struggled to quell the anxiety that such a future brought to her. "I w-will do my best to lead as w-wisely as you, Father," she whispered. She waited for another moment and then asked, "Who… who told you that Hokage-sama m-might live for months?"

"Jiraiya spoke with me briefly before leaving on his latest trip, that was several weeks ago, however."

Hinata felt her heart tremble, as it always did when she heard that Jiraiya was following another lead. "Where did he—" she cut her outburst short and covered her mouth with her hand.

Hiashi observed her carefully and then said, "Be careful where you place your hopes." He rose to his feet and began to walk to the door, but stopped before exiting. "He was traveling to the Grass Country this time, he was hopeful, but cautiously so."

Hinata nodded. "Thank you, Father."

ooo

Jiraiya cursed under his breath as he began to make his way back to Konoha. He'd done all he could, followed the trail as far as it went, but once again he'd come up with nothing. It was the third semi-empty base that he'd come across. Orochimaru _had_ been there, once – probably not too long ago – but he was gone now and the trail was cold.

A part of him was beginning to wonder if he wasn't actually on a wild-goose chase. Perhaps Naruto really was lost forever.

If that was the case…

He shook his head. He wouldn't think about what he'd do or feel if the last tiny thread of Minato vanished from the earth. His godson was out there, somewhere, he just had to keep looking. Sooner or later he'd stumble across a clue that…

He stopped in his tracks and took three steps backwards, looking at a store window he'd just passed.

Beyond the display of _nice_ clothes was a jacket that seemed vaguely familiar for some reason.

_"But, um, when you're out there… if you find an orange and black jacket that would fit someone about 20 cm or so taller than me... pick it up for me, would you? I want one with black sleeves, and a black stripe running along the zipper, with orange panels…"_

Frowning, Jiraiya entered the store and looked critically at the jacket. It wasn't quite as hideous as the one Naruto had been wearing the last time he'd seen him, but it still had far too much orange for his taste.

He reached out and touched one of the orange panels.

"Do you like it?" a young salesman asked. "It just came in a little while ago."

"It's too orange," he told him, wishing that one of the women he could see behind the counter had been the one to come try and sell it to him.

The man sighed. "Yeah, I know. Other customers have said that too. We're having trouble selling them."

Jiraiya looked at the jacket a moment longer and then said, "I'll take it, throw in some matching pants too."

The salesman couldn't move fast enough to get the proper sized clothes off the hanger and into a bag.

Jiraiya quietly paid for it, only giving a short, obligatory, leer at the breasts of the woman who took his money, and then made his way outside. The jacket wasn't much, but it was his way of reminding himself that he wouldn't give up hope no matter how bad it looked.

Naruto would need his new jacket, after all.

He walked in silence for nearly five kilometers before he noticed that he was being followed. How long they'd been back there was hard to say, but it hadn't been long. It only took him a second to realize that there were three of them, two were pretty large or carrying heavy items, the third seemed a bit quieter.

Jiraiya let them follow for a few more minutes, carefully observing them, and then grew bored of the game. He pretended to stretch, giving a large yawn, and then patted his stomach contentedly. His hands now hidden from their sight, he formed a quick series of seals and then slammed his hand down on the ground.

Instantly he was standing on the head of a large red toad.

"You got them?" Jiraiya asked.

The toad's lips pulled back in a smile. "'course." His tongue shot out of his mouth, moving much farther than seemed possible, twisting around trees until it entered some dense foliage, wrapped around something then pulled its captive back towards the toad's mouth.

"Sowwy, onny gat uhn," the toad told Jiraiya as his tongue continued to zip back towards his mouth.

At that moment, the remaining two dropped out of the trees, landing on the path, their weapons drawn. Jiraiya frowned at the red-haired boy dressed in plain clothing, with a large spider-shaped puppet on the ground under his outstretched arm. The girl next to him had dirty blond hair that hung past her shoulders. She gave him an irritated glare as she snapped open a large fan and drew it back.

There was something familiar about them, but he didn't put it all together until a burst of sand flashed out from his toad's captive and swirled towards him.

"Let him go," Jiraiya said as he flipped off the toad and away from the attack.

The tongue released its captive, sending a boy tumbling to the ground in a wet, sticky, and now _dirty_ mess. The boy stood and Jiraiya spotted the tell-tale calabash gourd on his back, though his hair was a different color than it should have been and his clothes were those of a typical Grass Country youth. Except for the gourd, he looked almost nothing like the person Jiraiya knew he had to be.

"Gaara of the Desert, right?" he asked.

"And you're Jiraiya, one of the Sannin," Gaara said, his dark-rimmed eyes carefully watching Jiraiya from under dark, almost black, hair. The roots of his hair were beginning to show signs of the natural red, but from a distance, it would be hard to recognize him.

Jiraiya nodded, the reason for the disguise was obvious. "I hear the Kazekage is looking for you."

"We didn't do what he thinks we did," the girl, who must have been Temari, said as she approached, folding her fan up and letting it rest against her shoulder.

Jiraiya looked at her for a moment and then shrugged. "Why were you following me?"

"Uzumaki Naruto," Gaara replied. "I want to speak with him."

Jiraiya rocked back on his heels slightly. "Why?"

"He's… my friend."

Jiraiya digested that quietly. It was obviously not the real reason they wanted to talk to Naruto, but he wasn't sure that it was a lie. He debated his choices for a moment and then took a chance. "Naruto was kidnapped, right after the Chuunin Exam. No one's seen him since."

Gaara's eye twitched dangerously and then he lowered his head. "I see."

"I knew this was a stupid idea," Kankuro groaned, running a hand through his unruly red hair. The spider-puppet twitched as his hand flexed in agitation.

Temari shot him a reproachful glare. "It doesn't really matter; we don't need Naruto for this…"

Gaara glanced over his shoulder at her, a strangely dangerous look in his eyes. Temari's voice faltered for a second, but then Gaara gave himself a little shake and the look passed as he turned back to Jiraiya. "She's right. Orochimaru is still a problem that affects Konoha."

Jiraiya looked at the three young ninja and smiled. "Maybe it wasn't such a stupid idea," he said. "I don't know what you have on Orochimaru, but if you're interested in Naruto also, perhaps we can make a deal of some sort."

ooo

The cave would have seemed dark to anyone peering inside, but those whose presences filled it could see each other with ease as they stood at the base of a massive statue. Only a few were physically present, the rest had been sent out on various missions and were represented by specters

"It's been too long. We're ready to start, but we still haven't discovered the locations of either the Kyuubi or the Ichibi."

"It's not _that_ big of a deal, we know where the others _are_, hmm. Well, except for the Sanbi, but supposedly it was freed from its jinchuriki somehow. It shouldn't be too difficult to find if it's loose though, hmm."

"What about that bastard Orochimaru? Haven't we let this nonsense go on long enough? We should have killed him right away."

"You're being impatient, Sasori. We'll deal with him when the time is right."

"Fuck that! I say we kill that shit-head now and get it over with. "

One of the few physically present figures turned his head to look at the last speaker. It wasn't much, but most of the others caught the movement and turned their attention to him. "Orochimaru and the Kyuubi are overlapping objectives and there are reports that Orochimaru is behind the recent unrest. They will be dealt with first. Sasori, Deidara, we'll leave them to you. The rest of you will continue with your missions."

The group nodded, some more reluctantly than others, and then those represented by specters faded away until only a few were still in the cave.

The last speaker looked up at the statue before them, his light-purple eyes with their strange multi-ring appearance seemed to sparkle, even in the darkness. He didn't smile, he didn't blink, he just stared up at the statue for a moment and then said, "It's almost time to let the world feel some pain."

o

o

A/N: I hope everyone was pleased with seeing Naruto up (sort of) and about (eh, not so much) along with a few fun little scenes from the war. There were initially more "torture Naruto" scenes, but I decided that some of them were in poor taste after reading them… plus, they made this chapter crazy long. I still have them, so maybe they'll show up as a flashback or something, but for now you'll have to live with what you get. I think the first Gaara scene was my favorite though it was sort of odd to write it as observed from a distance, still Gaara's always fun to write, even from a distance. Next chapter should be coming soon. Please Review and let me know what you thought.

Those of you interested in cool anime music videos should check out Amaleea's video that she made for Time and Again… I think it might be the coolest amv that I've ever seen (though I _could_ be a little biased in that assessment). She's "Aleeight" on YouTube and the video is called "Naruto~ KyLewin's Time and Again."

Matsuri – This is actually a real character from canon. She's the girl in the fillers that Gaara trains to use a rope/whip-thing (it has a name, but I'm lazy). She's also, apparently, one of the girls who has become quite enamored of Kazekage Gaara in chapter 280 (when he comes back from the dead). That seemed a little creepy to me at first, but apparently they're nearly the same age, so it's not so bad… she just seems really young in the filler stuff.

Eiko – I made up her up. Mostly, I thought it would be funny for a ninja to have a name that means "long-lived child."

Ichibi – "One-tail" … as in Shukaku.

Sanbi – "Three tails" this is the turtle that Deidara and Tobi capture. It was originally in an odd-looking young Mist-nin, though it was freed at some point and simply living in the wild by the time Akatsuki caught up with it.


	2. War, Missions, and Duty

Chapter 1: War, Missions, and Duty

o

Explosions rocked the earth beneath Sasuke's feet, nearly knocking him to the ground. All around him was chaos. Shinobi from both Kumo and Konoha were yelling, fighting, and dying. The civilians in the area were mostly just yelling and dying. The clanging of steel on steel rang throughout the small town that had the misfortune of becoming a battlefield.

In another lifetime he would have felt disconcerted, maybe even a little scared, by the noise roaring in his ears, the sulfurous smell of burning building choking his lungs, and the sight of death that greeted him everywhere he looked. That lifetime had passed into the void not so long ago, but it felt like it was already a distant memory. Maybe he'd started to lose it when his brother slaughtered their clan, but the final nail in its coffin had been the day Naruto was stolen and the outbreak of what many were already calling the Fourth Great Ninja War.

Konoha had been using what was essentially guerilla war tactics for the most part as was typical of a ninja war, particularly for those on the defensive. They had only engaged Kumo's forces en mass a half dozen times, if that. Instead, they let Kumo's shinobi get drawn farther and farther in, stretching their supply lines – which were under almost constant attack from small teams of Leaf-nin – and slowly whittling away at their numbers. Sasuke had participated in portions of some of the larger battles, but this was the first time he'd been there from the beginning and gotten to watch as a once peaceful area was turned into a hellish nightmare.

That the Leaf and Cloud-nin were clashing in this town was a slight change in tactics for Konoha. Previously, they probably would have tried to strip the village of food, weapons, and medical supplies and then continued to retreat. The problem was that Konoha had suffered a devastating loss only a few days earlier in one of the rare large battles and that had allowed the Cloud-nin to arrive much sooner than expected.

Plus, they were now only twenty kilometers away from Konoha and they'd reached a point where the Leaf-nin couldn't just keep falling back. If they dragged things along any farther, Kumo-nin would be knocking on the Hokage's door by the end of the week… assuming anyone was actually using that room anymore.

Just behind Sasuke, a thatched roofed house collapsed as its burning support beams lost the ability to hold its weight. To his left, a woman screamed as her husband – or friend, or brother, or even father – was cut down by a hail of kunai. She tried to run to him, but the child clutching desperately at her skirt tripped her up; the fall seemed to wake her from her incoherent grief and remind her that there were living family members who needed her more.

Sasuke spun away from a kick, ducked under a kunai and then slammed his hand up into his attacker's throat, dropping him. When he glanced back at where the woman and child had stood, they were gone. Perhaps they would find shelter, somewhere, or maybe they would just go somewhere else and die. He didn't know and didn't have time to care.

A kunai whistled through the air, catching him in the shoulder and spinning him around. The flak jacket he was wearing softened the blow, but the weapon had enough velocity behind it that it still managed to pierce his skin. Sasuke yanked it out, ignoring the sensation of blood flowing out of his body and sent it back at the tall man who had thrown it. The Cloud-nin dropped with a strangled cry as he clutched at the hilt sticking out of his throat.

Sasuke's red eyes surveyed the scene around him, drinking in and memorizing every detail of the carnage surrounding him.

Not far away, he spotted two Cloud-nin looking back in the direction that their forces had entered the town from. Burning and crumbling buildings blocked his view of what it was that was holding their attention, but all that mattered was that his enemies weren't aware of his presence.

Sasuke dropped low to the ground, reaching back and gripping the hilt of the thin chokuto he had procured from a Cloud-nin during a mission several months earlier. His five man team, made up of Sakure, Shikamaru, Chouji, and Lee, had been ambushed and had only made it through without any fatalities through sheer luck and his own good fortune that Sakura was with them. The former owner of the weapon had managed to get behind Sasuke while he was occupied with another enemy. He'd turned just in time to feel the blade run through his stomach and out his back. On pure instinct, he'd slashed at the man's throat with a kunai he was holding. He hadn't cut deep, but he'd hit an artery and that was all it really took. Sasuke remembered very little of the rest of that day.

When he woke up, he was in a tent, lying on a raised cot. Sakura's head, her hair damp with sweat, had been resting against his chest; she'd fallen asleep kneeling over him, exhausted from the effort that had saved his life. He would later find out that she'd worked on him for hours without rest and still very nearly lost him twice during the night. Her efforts left him with only a small scar on his stomach and chest (that was growing harder and harder to differentiate from all the others he was collecting).

Sasuke's teammates had saved the sword for him; Lee had even cleaned off the blood and sharpened it to a nice edge. At first it had been a joke that he wanted to keep the thing that had come so close to taking his life, but the more he used it, the more natural it felt in his hand. It had nearly killed him, but now it was his favorite weapon.

As he drew nearer to his prey, he silently slipped the blade from its sheath and rotated it in his grip as he brought his arm back and prepared to strike.

Motion caught his attention and he let his eyes flicker along the line that the two men were staring. One look and he too stood transfixed, though his eyes widened in horror at the sight before him.

A young woman with long blond hair tied back in a tight ponytail that was wrapped in cloth, was walking down the road less than a hundred meters away. She seemed completely unconcerned with the battle raging around her. Kumo's forces clashed with Konoha's on either side of her, but she didn't even look at them. A Leaf-nin used a fire jutsu, incinerating a Cloud-nin as well as the building he was standing next to, but she didn't so much as flinch while her companion screamed in agony. She continued forward until she reached what was roughly the center of the town and there she stood, patiently waiting, as if looking for a particular sign.

Sasuke knew who she was. He knew what her presence meant. The battle was lost.

Nii Yugito was one of only a handful of ninja from Kumogakure that Sasuke really respected. There were a great many strong ninja from Kumo, but few that were so strong they should be feared. She was one of the exceptions. At times she seemed to be single handedly turning the tide of the war in Kumo's favor.

Sasuke's lungs began to burn and he realized that he'd been holding his breath for some time. Without a second thought, his blade sank into the first of the two Cloud-nin before him. He dispatched the second before the first had even hit the ground.

With that done, he turned and was about to leap onto the nearest building, hoping that it would support his weight long enough for him to find a large group of Leaf-nin. Before he could, however, Shikamaru and Ino called out his name as they hurried around the still-burning remains of one of the nearby houses.

Both were dirty and blood-splattered, though it was hard to tell if it was their own or someone else's, and they carried themselves as if they were as exhausted as Sasuke felt. Shikamaru's hair, which was normally pulled back in a spiky ponytail, was hanging free almost touching his shoulders except towards the back where a few locks were trying to remain up even without the aid of the tie. The back right side of his head was matted with blood, probably for the same reason that his hair was no longer up. Both chuunin were wearing their flak jackets, though Ino looked a little funny in it as she had not changed out of her purple skirt when she put the vest on after the fighting broke out.

"Yugito's here," Sasuke said as soon as they were close enough to hear him over the din of battle.

Shikamaru looked past Sasuke and spotted Yugito. "Troublesome," he grumbled as he reached up and gripped his left shoulder, rotating his arm gingerly. "Ino was in the head of one of them and found out they were expecting reinforcements, but we didn't know it was _her_." He closed his eyes for a second, thinking, and then opened them and said, "We need to fall back. There aren't enough of us to deal with her and the rest of the Cloud shinobi."

Ino looked startled, but admirably held her tongue. Sasuke wasn't feeling so generous.

"We can't run away!" he growled. "We're already…"

Shikamaru nodded. "I know, but Konoha will be easier to protect and they still have a ways to go. We're already attacking their supply lines, they won't be able to lay siege to the village for very long and we'll have plenty of provisions to out last them."

Sasuke turned back towards Yugito. "If we kill her here, we'll turn the whole war."

"There's still Kirabi," Shikamaru pointed out. "He's twice as bad as she is."

"The Raikage hasn't put him in battle in a while. They're more protective of him than they are of Yugito. If she's gone…"

Shikamaru shook his head. "We can't right now, our forces are too spread out and theirs are too numerous. This town is lost anyway. The best tactic would be to fall back and force them to work twice as hard holding it as we would have to saving it."

Sasuke didn't look away from Yugito, the determination on his face made it clear that he was unmoved by Shikamaru's observation.

"If you die here, you can't save Naruto," Shikamaru pointed out.

Ino sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes widening. "Shikamaru!" she hissed.

Sasuke's hands curled into fists and he the urge to strike Shikamaru became almost irresistible… almost. It annoyed him that Shikamaru was right. It annoyed him more that his thoughts gradually passed from his vow to save Naruto to his vow to kill Itachi. Itachi had told Sasuke to live a long and unsightly life until the day that he had the same eyes as his brother. Sasuke still had every intention of killing Itachi, even if he had to live an unsightly life to do so, but he couldn't fight in the war or save Naruto if he ran away and did everything he could to protect his life.

"Naruto wouldn't run away from something like this," he replied, his voice a low, dangerous growl. He wasn't totally sure if he was talking to Shikamaru or Itachi.

Since Itachi wasn't around, Shikamaru assumed that he was the one being spoken to and shook his head, his long, free hair waving in the wind. "You're going to get me killed one of these days."

That comment was enough to bring Sasuke away from thoughts of Itachi and Naruto.

He raised a questioning eyebrow and Shikamaru shrugged. "You'll need someone to keep her friends from stabbing you in the back while you fight her. Ino's almost out of chakra and her jutsu aren't really made for that sort of thing. Unfortunately, that leaves me as your backup." He turned to Ino and said, "Go find Asuma-sensei and let him know that Sasuke and I are going to die unless he and whoever else he can find hurry to the spot with all the explosions." He gave her a weak smile and then added, "If there aren't any explosions… the fights probably over and he should bring a couple of body bags when he comes looking for us."

"Shikamaru…"

He waved her comment off before she could get any farther than that. "It'll be fine; just don't take too long finding sensei."

She was quiet for a half second and then gave him a small smile. "I was just going to say to make sure Sasuke-kun comes back safe and sound. Sakura would never forgive me if he gets killed because I let him run off with a dumbass like you."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Cute. Get going." He turned to Sasuke and sighed. "Sometimes, I think I should have been an artist or a cook. All this fighting really isn't my thing."

Sasuke gave him a grim smile. He was used to Shikamaru's complaining every time things got dangerous. He also knew that there were few ninja who were so adapt at coming up with just the right maneuver to save everyone as Shikamaru; whether he longed for the quiet simple life or not, Shikamaru was a good ninja. "Come on, we have work to do."

ooo

Tsunade sat in Sarutobi Hiruzen's room, listening to the rhythmic beeping of the machines that kept continuous tabs on his heart beat and a whole range of other things. The only other noise in the darkened room was far softer than the beeps, but to her it seemed to almost drown out all other sound.

The Third Hokage's gasps for air.

He was slowly but surely drowning in blood and other bodily fluids as they leaked into his lungs. The pain that the rest of his body was feeling was probably excruciating at times, but he almost never groaned or cried out or gave any indication that he felt it anymore. She sometimes wondered if the disease or poison or whatever it was that was afflicting him had mercifully destroyed the nerves that would alert his brain to the pain he was feeling, but every time she pricked his skin to inject him with something else that she hoped would slow the spread of the disease, his muscles flinched just enough to tell her that he still felt everything.

_'If he didn't stop to mess around, Jiraiya ought to be back today,'_ she thought as she stared through the semi-darkness at the still form of the Third lying in his bed. She knew that Jiraiya wouldn't mess around, not when things were so serious in Konoha. He might continue searching for some clue that would lead him to Orochimaru and – more importantly to Jiraiya – Uzumaki Naruto, but he wouldn't mess around… much.

His last message had been interesting. The Kazekage's children, whom he'd met on a previous trip, had apparently been able to narrow down Orochimaru's location down to two areas. They were checking out one, Jiraiya was investigating the other. Whoever found the base would alert the others and then Jiraiya was to come back to Konoha and get a team of Leaf-nin together to storm the base and bring Naruto out.

Jiraiya hadn't found anything. In fact, after a long and careful search, he was certain that the Kazekage's children were in the right spot, if Orochimaru really was going to be in one of those two locations. They hadn't contacted him yet, but he was already returning to Konoha to ready the rescue party so they would be ready to go the moment news reached them that Orochimaru had been found.

In Tsunade's opinion, it was all a waste of time. Even _if_ they somehow found Orochimaru and _if_ Naruto was still alive and _if_ Orochimaru didn't catch wind of what they were doing and kill the boy before he could be saved… she didn't think Konoha would take people away from a war effort so they could be used to rescue a chuunin that had probably been killed over a year and a half ago. The Council wouldn't go for it on their own and she wasn't sure that Sarutobi could get them to do it given how long he'd been more or less incapacitated.

Her eyes settled on his thin and haggard form and she sighed. If only she'd seen it sooner or done something before it had progressed as far as it had. She knew, though she generally refused to admit it, that since she still couldn't figure out what was wrong with him or why it continued to progress despite her best attempts at curing him, there was little chance that she could have done anything to stop him from reaching this point, but it still seemed like she should have done something.

He developed the cough quickly, and neither time nor the methylmorphine she'd given him had done anything for him. Then, he began to complain of strange chest pains and shortness of breath. At that point, she'd realized that he was suffering from something other than a simple cold, but none of her treatments had done anything other than slow the progression as he slowly grew weaker and weaker and his body gradually began to give out on him. Strangely, the coughing was no longer nearly as bad as it had been in the beginning, but most of the other symptoms persisted.

She, Shizune, Haruno Sakura, and several other medical-nin including some top of the top doctors in the village all the way down to some genin showing promise had worked on hundreds of treatments, but they never seemed to work or, if they did work, never seemed to last.

Tsunade wasn't sure how much longer she could keep it up. A part of her thought that maybe it wouldn't be better to just stop. It would hurt him more, but the pain would last for a far shorter period of time and then he wouldn't feel any pain ever again.

She felt like an enormous weight was pressing down on her back and every day was growing larger and heavier. It wasn't just that the work was tiring (though it was) or that the sleepless nights devising new strategies and theories were leaving her exhausted (though they were), it was the psychological effects of failing over and over and over that really seemed to be getting to her. She just felt like she was reaching her limits and she was a little afraid of what would happen when they were exceeded. She might curl up into a little ball and sleep until he was dead, or she might smother him with a pillow to put him out of his misery… or she might slip away in the middle of the night and just go back to drowning herself in alcohol and gambling debts.

Not a day went by that she didn't curse Jiraiya for talking her into coming back to the village.

A soft knock at the door woke her from her thoughts and saved a mental image of Jiraiya from the horrors of castration and any other torture her mental self could dream up. She rose quietly and walked to the door, opening it just enough to see Haruno Sakura, and then slipping through it so they could speak in the hallway.

Sakura was holding a ceramic mug of steaming tea. With a smile, the pink haired girl handed it over. "How is he?"

Tsunade's rose slightly in a small shrug, the answer was obvious anyway.

"Jiraiya-sama is supposed to get back today, isn't he?" Sakura asked.

"Yes."

"Do you think…" Sakura paused, suddenly finding her toes very interesting as she twisted them back and forth against the wood floors. "Do you think he found something this time?"

Tsunade took a sip of her tea and then turned her eyes on Sakura. The pink haired girl was getting taller all the time, probably closing in on a hundred and sixty centimeters now. Her hair was a little longer than it had been when Tsunade had first seen her – and the bald spot had healed and mostly filled in, though it was still noticeably shorter than the rest of her hair – but still remained above her shoulders. She still looked a little funny in the long white shirt that came down to her knees, the uniform of the medic-nin working in the hospital, but she was slowly growing into it. When she'd first put it on, she'd looked like a child playing in her mother or father's clothing; now it almost seemed to suit her.

She was very nearly the perfect student for Tsunade: smart, resourceful, and hungry to learn. Were it not for the fact that she was totally loyal to Konoha and a bit more optimistic than was healthy, Tsunade would have been willing to take her when she and Shizune eventually escaped the village.

"What do you think he's going to find?" Tsunade asked.

Sakura bit her lip and Tsunade could see the war going on behind the young woman's teal-colored eyes. Her natural inclination towards hope clashing with the rationality that Tsunade had instilled within her. "I don't know," she whispered after a moment's hesitation.

"Did you read those scrolls I gave you?"

Sakura shuddered. "Yes."

Tsunade wanted to be firm. She wanted to demand that Sakura say out loud what the scrolls had described Orochimaru doing in his human experiments. She wanted to crush the stupid hope that Sakura, Sasuke, Jiraiya, the Third, and probably Kakashi (though he never spoke on the subject) all seemed to hold onto when it came to Naruto's rescue. Of all of them, Sakura was probably the one most likely to correctly reach the logical conclusion that the best case scenario for Naruto was that he was buried in a shallow grave somewhere, still mostly recognizable as having once been human.

But, looking down at her otherwise intelligent student, she found that she couldn't bring herself to do it. With Jiraiya it was fine, she didn't care about trampling on Sasuke's hopes, the Third was too weak to argue back anyway, and Kakashi was smart enough to keep his feelings to himself, but with Sakura…

Tsunade just didn't want Sakura to end up as jaded as she had. The young woman's hope was farfetched, but Tsunade wouldn't be the one to take it away from her.

Life could have that unpleasant job. It was better at it anyway.

"If he's not ogling girls in some bathhouse he stumbled upon on the way home, he should be back today. Maybe he'll have found what you're hoping for… just, don't pin your hopes on it. I don't want you to be too disappointed."

Sakura smiled. "Of course, sensei." The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes and then Sakura frowned and asked, "When I read those scrolls, I was wondering… was Orochimaru always like that? You and Jiraiya-sama are good people, why did he end up so evil?"

Tsunade sighed and drained the last of her tea in one quick gulp. "He wasn't always like that, but the seeds for it where there. Once upon a time, he was just a gifted ninja who wanted to get stronger and stronger so he could help protect people from the fate that had befallen his parents." Her eyes narrowed as a thought struck her and she almost didn't voice it, but once it had occurred to her, she couldn't push it aside. "Sasuke," she said softly, "is not so different from how Orochimaru was back then. For a little while, a _very_ little while, I even looked at him the way you look at Sasuke."

Sakura recoiled from that thought, as Tsunade knew she would. "Sasuke-kun is nothing like that!" she hissed. "He would never…"

Tsunade glared at her. "Do you think I thought Orochimaru would ever do what he did?" When Sakura didn't answer, Tsunade shook her head and turned back to the door to the Third's room. "Tell Kabuto that I need another sample of the serum we prepared yesterday."

Sakura bowed low. "Of course, sensei."

When she was gone, Tsunade sagged against the closed door and sighed. It hurt her to say something that she knew would hurt Sakura. While there was nothing inherently wrong with liking Sakura and taking her under her wing, it was yet another attachment to the village that she really didn't need or want. Unless Naruto turned up dead and Sasuke was killed in the war, Sakura would never consider leaving Konohagakure, and that meant that it would be a little – not a lot, but a little – harder for Tsunade to bring herself to leave.

She stepped inside and resumed her vigil over her dying former-mentor.

ooo

Naruto groaned as he woke from what was probably a drug induced sleep. Since he was still stuck in total darkness it was impossible to tell if he'd been out for a day, a month, or only a few seconds.

He tired to remember what had led him to that point, but his brain was still fuzzy from whatever they'd given him. The last clear thought that he could remember having was hungrily eating out of a small round tray that had been partially filled with some sort of strange tasting slop.

Once upon a time, he would have spit it out and complained. Now he awkwardly pushed his head into the pan and licked it clean, doing his best not to gag on whatever it was they gave him. It was hard to eat chained up the way he was, but his body was often so desperate for nourishment that he would pull against his shackles until he bled, just to get his mouth at the food.

Every once in a while, the guards would set the tray down just out of his reach and then laugh as he struggled and cried as he desperately tried to get at it.

During those times, Karin was usually the one to come in, scold the guards, and then lift the food so that Naruto could eat it with as much dignity as a starving man could manage.

He loved her whenever she did that.

Then he promptly reminded himself to hate her as soon as she was gone and his mind moved away from thoughts of food and back to his new mission in life: keeping Orochimaru from going after Sasuke again. It was unsettling to realize how easily he was being manipulated by her, but it was difficult to resist. Still, so long as he knew what they were doing, he was fairly certain he could hold out. Giving in to the feeling when she was around was one thing, but he wouldn't tell her anything that would tip Orochimaru off to the fact that there was no secret time travel jutsu.

A part of him wondered how much longer such resolve would last. If she suddenly threatened to leave him and never come back unless he told her about the jutsu, would he really be able to give up his only escape from loneliness?

For the time being, the answer was yes, but in another few months or years… it was hard to say.

Naruto reached up and rubbed his aching neck, it was an involuntary movement and it took a few seconds for him to realize that he'd actually been able to perform it. For the first time in a long time, he wasn't chained down and no one seemed to be attacking him.

Hope surged through him, waking tired, weak muscles and filling him with a small burst of energy. They'd slipped up! They'd misjudged how much of the drugs they needed to give him! They'd…

Naruto closed his eyes, though in the darkness the view was the same, and searched his body.

It wasn't a mistake, or not as much of one as he'd thought it had been. He still couldn't feel his chakra, meaning that Hyuuga Hiroshi had blocked it off not too long ago.

Still, he could move a little, stretch his cramped body, and could prepare himself to attack whoever stepped through the door…

He weakly crawled forward away from the wall that he'd woken against, trying to find the door that they would come through when they came for him.

Then, he heard a strange whisper in the darkness. "Which way is he moving…?"

Naruto froze, his ears alert and his heart racing. He wasn't alone.

"He stopped… how annoying…"

"Who's there?" Naruto whispered hoarsely. His throat was parched and his tongue felt sticky in his mouth. Even if he wanted to, he wasn't sure if he could have raised his voice much above a whisper.

He was weak and so, so tired. He couldn't handle a fight at this point. He was barely handling crawling at the moment. If push came to shove, he thought he could get to his feet and maybe have strength enough in his weary body to put up a decent fight, but it would only be a short burst, nothing more. His energy from realizing that he was unchained had faded and his body wanted nothing more than to collapse onto the dirty ground, but he couldn't do that with an unknown presence in his cell.

"I don't like his voice… he should stop talking… here in the dark, there are monsters… I don't want to… but kind of, I do."

Naruto groaned silently. It was worse than he'd thought. Being alone in a pitch black cell with a stranger was bad enough, but now he was in a pitch black cell with a _crazy_ stranger.

It was strange to suddenly find himself in the presence of someone not, to his knowledge, working for Orochimaru. In all the time since he was captured, Naruto had only seen a few people who weren't Orochimaru's servants, and he'd essentially executed those that he had seen. That felt like it had been eons ago, back when he had only been a captive for a few days. Even the nightmares from those days had mostly faded into the recesses of his psyche.

Mostly.

"Are… are you a captive too?" Naruto whispered. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto, what's your name?"

"Names don't matter really…" the voice replied. "Please, stop talking; I don't want to kill you…"

Naruto accepted this with a nod that he assumed his companion couldn't see and let himself flop down onto the floor of the cell. His whole body ached from having been chained in one position for long periods of time. It hurt to stretch out. It hurt to move. It even hurt to _think_ about moving.

He hoped Karin would come see him soon…

And then he cursed himself for that hope, knowing what it meant.

Some part of his brain was still rational enough to realize that his feelings towards her were manufactured to serve Orochimaru's purposes. She didn't care about him and more than she cared about any other captive. She was just a tool being used to torture him, no different than a knife or a container of boiling oil or even a small child being threatened unless he gave up his secrets.

Unfortunately, he thought she might be more affective than all of them put together.

Naruto could block out pain, he could suffer through burns, he could even turn away as someone else was killed because he refused to speak, but he couldn't fight loneliness. There were a great many things that he was weak against, but that was probably the most pronounced chink in his armor.

"I wonder if the lights will come on…" the voice whispered, sounding as though it was talking to no one.

"They never do," Naruto sighed.

"I SAID DON'T TALK!!!" The voice was a deafening roar that reverberated off the walls, crashing again and again against Naruto's ears. He grabbed the sides of his head, trying to block it out, but loud noise was such an infrequent experience for him after so long in near total isolation that it was difficult.

When the ringing in his ears began to fade, Naruto almost apologized, but thought the better of it. The last thing he needed was more shouting.

"Ku ku ku," a different voice chuckled from somewhere else in the room. "Are you two getting along in there?" Orochimaru asked.

Neither occupant in the cell answered him.

"I felt the need for a little entertainment today," Orochimaru went on. "Konoha was routed a few days ago by Kumo. It won't be long now before the village falls and I move on to my next project."

"Please," the voice cried out, begging now. "Please, take him away before I… I don't want to, not again… never again…"

"You've been with me for a long time, and nothing we've tried has cured you. This is a different approach. I've decided to try to slowly wean you off your bloodlust," Orochimaru replied, his voice sounding suspiciously like it was meant to mock them. "You've gone several days without killing anyone, much more and when you finally give in it won't be pretty. A few kills here and there and perhaps you'll start to get used to used to only giving in to the urges every once in a while."

The lights in the room flashed on. They were brighter than any Naruto had seen in weeks, if not months. He screamed, curling up into a little ball and clutching at his eyes, feeling as if the light was burning through them. His companion yelled at him again to be quiet, this time sounding desperate and afraid. Naruto's pain was such that he couldn't even understand what was being said to him for a long time.

When he finally was able to block enough of the pain to at least gain some awareness of his surroundings, the only thing he could hear was Orochimaru's chuckling and the sound of a heavy chain being dragged across the dirty floor as footsteps approached him.

ooo

Sasuke ducked under an outstretched arm, lifting his own to catch the Cloud-nin by the throat and then twisted to the side to bring the man into the path of a sword that was arcing towards them. His human shield cried out briefly and then fell silent as he was nearly cut in half. Turning to face the rest of the group that had ambushed them, Sasuke found himself staring down about ten Cloud-nin, each already in the process of throwing a kunai or some other projectile. With the swordsman already pulling his blade from his companion that Sasuke had used as a shield and the proximity of those throwing kunai at him, Sasuke realized he was in trouble. At his best, he would be hard pressed to avoid just the kunai.

He wasn't at his best at the moment and the swordsman was beginning his swing.

Just then, the Cloud-nin with the sword inexplicably dropped his weapon and dove in front of Sasuke, shielding him from the kunai. He managed to stand tall until the volley had passed and then fell into a limp pile as a long shadow detached itself from his smaller one.

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder at where Shikamaru was standing and nodded his thanks. Then he was amongst the remaining Cloud-nin, a blur of motion as his sword and fists made quick work of them before they could recover from their surprise.

When the last of them fell, he and Shikamaru looked like they had a clear shot at Yugito.

The blonde was still standing in the same spot, her dark strangely slanted eyes looking up at the sky expectantly.

"Are you ready?" Sasuke asked as he and Shikamaru rushed towards her.

"Not really," Shikamaru admitted.

Sasuke's fingers began flashing through seals and then lightning exploded into existence around his right hand as a sound reminiscent of a great flock of birds filled the air. Without needing any more signal than that, Shikamaru jumped out of the way, his own fingers coming together even before he landed and his shadow snaking out. Though it was doubtful he could hold her for long or do anything more than cause her to hesitate when she first realized what was happening, his first target was Yugito.

The instant before Shikamaru's shadow could latch on to hers, she skipped back a step and then flipped backwards high into the air.

Sasuke adjusted his headlong flight so that he would meet her right as she touched down.

There was a loud shout off to his left and out of the corner of his eye he spotted two large Cloud-nin bearing down on him, their hands together as they formed seals. His brain quickly calculated his chances of getting to Yugito before they did finished the jutsu and realized that he couldn't continue his attack without leaving himself open to their attacks.

His charge faltered for a brief second as he readied himself to attack the two other Cloud-nin first, but before he could a large dark shape flashed past him as another leapt from atop a building.

"Suiton: Mizuame Nabara!" Kamizuki Izumo called out as sticky syrup spewed from his mouth, coating the ground around the two Cloud-nin.

They looked down in surprise, taking their eyes off of Sasuke, and then Hagane Kotetsu was upon them, his dark spiky hair blown back by the speed of his movements and an enormous lavender conch shell mace already raised above his head. Sasuke had always thought the flashy mace to be ridiculously impractical, but it was hard to argue with results. It only took one strike to kill both ninja as Kotetsu's leap carried him to the other side of the syrup.

Neither of the recently promoted jounin paused to congratulate themselves as they turned and began moving to back up Sasuke who had already turned his attention back towards Yugito.

Unfortunately, Sasuke's momentary hesitation gave her enough time to reach the ground before he got to her. His lightning covered fist flew forward, aimed right at her heart, but even as he did so, something unexpected began to happen. Yugito didn't move, nor did his eyes predict her moving, but a strange blue chakra sprang up around her and pushed his arm just enough to the side that he missed her and his fist slammed into the wooden wall of the house she was standing in front of.

The Chidori exploded, showering both of them with splinters as almost half the wall was destroyed. The sudden loss of support beams was more than the building could take and it creaked, groaned, and then toppled towards the two of them. Sasuke and Yugito leapt out of the way, barely escaping the debris that rained down on them.

As he rolled smoothly to his feet, Sasuke let out a soft curse. He'd never fought Yugito and didn't actually know anyone who had, but he'd heard the stories. His best bet had been to take her out with that first strike. He'd never heard of anyone other than a Hyuuga blocking an attack with chakra alone, and even they had to make a physical movement to push the chakra in the right direction.

Yugito hadn't done anything like that. His eyes would have seen and predicted the full range of her movement before her bodied had done anything more than twitch.

What was worse, now that he'd missed his first attack, they would be on more or less even footing. From what he knew of those that had fought and been killed by her as well as the stories he'd her of her abilities, being on even footing with her meant that he was probably about to lose.

Yugito was just as quick to her feet, maybe quicker, and no sooner was she up then she had already begun to launch into her attacks.

Sasuke nimbly slid away from three punches and then a kick that nearly took his head off as it whistled past his ear. He blocked her next punch and was driven to his knees under the force of the blow. He'd never experienced such a heavy strike, and was caught off guard by the fact that she didn't seem to be the sort of woman who could produce such power.

He rolled to the side before she could press her advantage and had his fingers around a kunai before he'd even completed the movement. As his arm moved forward, she began to spin away. His Sharingan caught her movement and predicted where she'd end up when it was completed. His grip tightened on the kunai, keeping it in his hand for a split second longer as he readjusted his aim. The kunai's new path would take it right through the spot where the bridge of her nose would end up.

Given the close range, Yugito's reaction time was incredibly impressive. She spotted the danger and began to arch her back, trying to bring her head out of the way. She was too late, however, his eyes had already seen that she wouldn't be able to move in time.

He'd won.

Then, just as with the Chidori, blue chakra appeared from no where and deflected the kunai off target enough for her to escape.

Sasuke cursed as he reached for his sword and charged towards her. She was so fast and that strange jutsu she was using was so unpredictable even his Sharingan couldn't seem to give him enough information for him to finish her off. Using the sword at close range would lessen his foresight advantage since the time between the image his eyes showed him and her actual movements would be shorter, but her reactions were too quick for any long range attacks anyway.

The two of them danced throughout the middle of the burning town. The sulfurous ash burned at their eyes and lungs, but neither slowed or let it effect them. Sasuke's sword flashed back and forth, trying to connect solidly, but always just a heartbeat to slow to do anything more than small scratches. Yugito drew a kunai to protect herself and to attack as well, but she too found it almost impossible to do anything more than land superficial scratches.

"Behind!" Shikamaru yelled from where he was dealing with four Cloud-nin who had tried to sneak up on Sasuke earlier.

Sasuke didn't hesitate. His flipped high into the air just as three kunai sizzling with stored lightning passed through the spot where he'd been. For a second, he hoped that Yugito would be caught by the attacks, but she ducked under them and then sprang forward.

Sasuke didn't need his Sharingan to tell him that she was aiming for the spot where he was going to land. He twisted in the air, positioned his sword so that it would be ready to defend the attack he could already see her starting to prepare, and then braced himself.

The clash of metal sounded like that of a bell and the sword vibrated in Sasuke's hand with such violence that he couldn't keep his grip on it. Yugito lost her kunai as well.

The sting of the vibrations and the loss of their weapons barely slowed either of them down. Sasuke ducked low under a punch, kicking his leg out to trip her up. She was too fast for something like that, however, but he saw which direction she was going to take before she'd even moved. His hands blurred through the proper seals, stopping on tiger and then moving towards his mouth as he sucked in a deep breath.

A great fireball erupted from his mouth and consumed Yugito just as she lifted her hands to protect herself.

Sasuke let out a sigh of relief as he watched the fiery form slam into the side of a building. It had been a far closer thing that he'd wanted it to be, but with her out of the way…

"Look out!" Izumo yelled as he tackled Sasuke just as what looked like a blue flame shot out of the fireball and slammed into the ground where Sasuke had been sitting.

The two Leaf-nin tumbled through the soot covered street, but then quickly got to their feet.

"She won't be that easy," Izumo said as he pulled a large kunai-shaped weapon that was nearly as long as a sword off his back. He wet his lips nervously and said, "She has a strange ability to control chakra, I've never seen anything like it."

"I've noticed," Sasuke replied. "My eyes can't predict it. There's no warning before it happens."

Izumo pulled the bandana hitai-ate off his head and brushed the brown hair that normally hid his right eye out of his face, pushing it back and then pulling the hitai-ate back on. "I'll need two eyes for this, I think," he said with a small smile.

Sasuke watched as Yugito dropped to the ground, the lavender colored leather armor that covered most of her torso was singed and the black shirt that she wore under it was almost completely burned away, but her body didn't seem to have taken much damage.

"Any ideas?" Izumo asked, his dark eyes tracking Yugito's every movement.

"Stay back," Sasuke replied. "I can follow her movements pretty well. If you see a chance, feel free to lend a hand, just don't kill me when you do it." He paused and then added, "Also, use some water jutsu on her. If you can get her wet and distracted, maybe I can send a current through it. It's simple, but she might not expect something like that."

Izumo outranked Sasuke, was older, and more experienced, but Sasuke was an Uchiha and even after so many years, that still meant something. Besides, Sasuke was right, his eyes did allow him to follow Yugito's movements better than probably anyone else, certainly better than any of the other three Leaf-nin in the immediate area.

The older ninja nodded and whispered, "Good luck."

Sasuke charged forward, his fingers forming seals once more. As soon as he was close enough, he sent another fireball at Yugito, this time flicking three kunai into it the moment that the flames had obscured her vision of him. Even if she could somehow block the flames or survive them, even she couldn't block kunai when she didn't see them coming.

Yugito didn't let the flames reach her this time. She flipped high into the air, and sent her own hail of kunai down at Sasuke who nimbly avoided them as he moved ever closer to her.

Sasuke's hands come together, forming seals and then a second Sasuke appeared out of a cloud of smoke. The two split apart, each angling towards her from opposite directions.

"Now!" both Sasuke's yelled.

Izumo reared back and then spit a great spout of water at Yugito. With the two Sasuke's so close, she didn't dare leave the ground or try to dodge, so she simply thrust her fist forward, flames seeming to appear around her hand, and the waters parted before her in a great cloud of steam.

Even then, she'd gotten wet, and that was most of what Sasuke had hoped for. One of him formed a series of seals and another Chidori appeared around his hand while the other simply drew a kunai and picked up speed. Yugito had to choose which of him to face and which to try to simply avoid. She decided that the Chidori wielding Sasuke was the most dangerous and turned towards him, just as he'd known she would.

At the last second, he pushed off the ground, flipping high into the air as the second Sasuke continued forward. Yugito didn't even look back as she threw her foot back and caught him in the face.

The clone exploded like a bolt of lightning. Yugito screamed as the blast from the lightning clone threw her into the air and sent her slamming to the ground.

Sasuke had mapped it out perfectly, he landed in a crouch, his feet on either side of her and his body held just above her, the Chidori still crackling in his palm. His hand flashed down towards her heart.

Before it got there, however, her dark eyes snapped open and her pupils became vertical slits as her irises suddenly turned to gold. She let out a horrible scream as her hair stood on end and a burst of chakra sent Sasuke flying away from her.

He landed in a heap and looked up in dismay as Yugito was covered in blue flames that quickly took the form of a giant two tailed cat.

At that moment, he understood why so few walked away from battles she participated in.

ooo

Jiraiya sighed as he looked up at the large wooden gates and waited to be allowed through. It had been a long couple of weeks filled with irritation and disappointment. Though he'd figured it would be just his luck to take the clue that led to the dead end, it was still disappointing to have not found Orochimaru or Naruto. He had found a base, one that was actually in use this time, but Orochimaru and Naruto hadn't been there… he'd checked under every rock and unconscious body and corpse (most of which he'd had a hand in strewing about), just to be sure. The guards hadn't been much help either. After they set prisoners, ninja who had volunteered for experiments, and everyone else staying there, the guards had fought and made threats and then ran away, forcing him to chase them down and in the end they hadn't even known anything about Orochimaru's current location or what had happened to Naruto.

Jiraiya let out another sigh. He supposed he was glad to be back even if he wasn't coming to recruit a rescue party that had a confirmed destination. He could still round up a few to help him, Temari, and her brothers. With any luck, Kakashi and Sasuke would be around. They, for sure, would come with him.

As he waited, he studied the walls around the village and the guards carefully. The war was beginning to take its toll on Konoha, robbing it of the pleasantness he normally associated with returning to it. With the Third dying – or dead, though he was certain he would have heard about it if that had happened – and who knew how many Leaf-nin being killed every day on the battlefield, there was something of an aura of gloom hanging over the village. Konoha looked exactly as it had when he left, but something still felt off about it.

A part of him wondered how long it would be before attacks began to reach the village itself. He'd heard a rumor that the Cloud-nin were starting to get close. Probably it wouldn't be much more than a few weeks, though if things wen't particularly badly, it could be a matter of days. If it happened before Temari and her brothers sent word that they'd found Orochimaru's base, Jiraiya would have to make a tough decision. It was one thing to say that he didn't care about the village when it wasn't in any immediate danger, but he wasn't so sure he could turn his back on his former home when an invasion force was laying siege to it.

He gave himself a little shake and turned his thoughts to other matters.

_'How many steps do I get into the village before Sasuke finds me?'_ he wondered to himself. Had Tsunade been standing there with him, he probably would have turned it into a bet.

Jiraiya supposed he couldn't fault the boy for wanting to save his friend. If Naruto had survived the last two years, he might be cheered to know how much he was missed. Still, he hoped he wouldn't run into the Uchiha boy. It wasn't that he really disliked Sasuke, but Jiraiya couldn't seem to shake the nagging thought that Sasuke would have betrayed Naruto and left the village by this point if things had not taken their strange turn. It wasn't very fair to hold something he hadn't even done against him, but the Sasuke Naruto described sounded very similar to Orochimaru before _he_ left the village and Jiraiya was inherently distrustful of people he thought bore any resemblance to his old teammate.

The gate in front of him opened with a creak and the chuunin – who looked like he was only a chuunin because those who were really chuunin were out fighting the war – guarding it gave him a respectful nod as he passed by. "Hokage-sama is waiting for you in his room," the guard told him.

Jiraiya frowned, wanting to ask how the old man was, but knowing that it was unlikely that a gate guard who was barely old enough to shave would have such information. He was actually surprised that there were even orders from Sarutobi at all. He knew no one had seen the Third in weeks when he left; he doubted things would have changed much since then.

After only a second, he realized what had probably happened. Tsunade had issued the order, claiming it was from the Third. Jiraiya had told her to try to make it seem as if Sarutobi was on the mend a few months earlier, this was probably one of her attempts to do so. Orders from the desk of the Hokage were the way that most ninja interacted with him anyway since he would be hard pressed to meet with every one of them. He tended to directly give missions to the younger ninja, since it let them feel connected to the process and gave them a chance to see how proud he was of them when the completed their assignments, but the older ninja usually just received missions through messengers or through their team leaders.

Tsunade was as shrewd as ever, it seemed.

"I'd have thought he'd at least let me get a drink before the interrogation started," Jiraiya grumbled, figuring he might as well play up his part… and he really did want a drink.

"I was told to inform you that Tsunade-sama will be bringing sake and that you are to go directly to meet her at Hokage-sama's quarters as well…" he gulped and then whispered, "…or else!"

Jiraiya smiled. "Who would have guessed that such a violent, flat-chested girl would grow up to be so considerate?"

The chuunin decided, probably wisely, not to respond with anything more than an awkward smile and a look that suggested he really wished Jiraiya would get going.

Jiraiya took a deep breath and started the march, counting his steps to see how far he'd get before Sasuke was on him.

He wasn't really looking forward to the conversation with Tsunade and Sarutobi, though he'd already sent a note explaining most of what had happened. What he really wasn't looking forward to was seeing how much farther the Third had deteriorated while he was gone.

Chances were, the Council would be almost ready to usurp power from him and take official control of the village or simply appoint another Hokage. Jiraiya wasn't sure that he completely disagreed with them, a dying Hokage was terrible for morale and the Third was insistent upon one of his remaining students taking the job despite their unwavering refusals.

Jiraiya was actually rather impressed when he made it all the way to Hokage Tower without running into Sasuke, though it was likely that the young man was still out on some mission. He thought he'd been told that Sasuke's group was due back for a few days of rest at about this time, but he didn't pay enough attention to such things to be certain of that.

Whatever the reason, he reached the door to the Third Hokage's room without having to say so much as "hello" to anyone other than a few guards. Bracing himself for the worst, he knocked softly and then entered.

Tsunade was waiting for him just in side the room. Her eyes were bloodshot and the bags under them looked to be nearly as heavy as her breasts. (_'Well,'_ he almost smiled, _'not really.'_)

"You're late," she whispered.

"It's hard to estimate travel time when I have to make my way through two war zones," he replied. "How is he?"

"Worse."

"I thought you said…"

"I know what I said!" Tsunade snapped, wincing at the unintentional volume of her voice. Jiraiya heard her words, it was impossible to miss them, but more than that, he could hear her pain and desperation. He hadn't thought she was joking, but it was clear that she wasn't overstating things either. In fact, 'worse' was probably downplaying how bad it was.

"It's worse than it was before you left. Whatever it is, I'm having more and more trouble slowing it down. I think…" she sighed and squeezed the bridge of her nose. "I think we've reached a tipping point. I don't know if I can pull him back from it. At this rate, it could be days, maybe a week."

Jiraiya cursed under his breath. "We can't wait any longer. One of us has to take the title. If we don't… one of _them_ will get it." He didn't need to tell her which _them_ he was referring to.

"Let them have it," Tsunade growled with a dismissive wave of her hand. "They were all decent ninja at one point and most of them have been working in village politics for years."

"That's why they shouldn't be Hokage," Jiraiya replied. "In the Council it's too easy to play politics and make a bigger name for themselves than they deserve. The Hokage isn't supposed to be a politician. Not like that, anyway. Besides, you know who they'll give it to."

"Danzo," Tsunade spat the name like a curse. "They couldn't really be that stupid, could they?"

"We're in the middle of a war. They're scared and there's a power vacuum at the highest position. They'll give it to whoever bullies his way into the job. It'll be him."

"You said _we're_," Tsunade whispered. "I thought you and I weren't a part of the village anymore."

Jiraiya snorted. "If Danzo becomes Hokage, this village won't be the home we remember anyway."

"Then stop him. Take the title and keep him out of it."

Jiraiya lowered his head. "If I do that, Naruto…"

Tsunade slapped him hard across the face. The slap echoed through the darkness of the room, seeming to drown out even the beeping of the machines and the rasping breathing of the other occupant.

"You were right, you'd make a terrible Hokage!" Tsunade hissed. "Naruto, Naruto, Naruto… that's all you think about. This village _needs_ you and you're worried about one kid who might have died two years ago!"

Jiraiya slowly brought his face back around, his left cheek already turning red from the blow. His eyes seemed to blaze like twin fires in the darkness as he drew himself up to his full height, towering over her. "He _is_ more important to me than this village," he growled in a low threatening voice. "Naruto isn't just some kid, he's the future Hokage. He's Minato and Kushina's son. He's my godson. I loved this village, but when it came down to it, I left and didn't look back. I won't turn my back on him."

Tsunade stared defiantly up at him, not backing down. "You're lying. You talk about loving the village in the past tense, but you lie when you do it. You've always loved this village, maybe even more than I did when we were little." She waited for a moment, and then, when Jiraiya didn't respond, she asked, "How can he be the future Hokage if the spirit of the village is lost when someone like Danzo takes over? Who will follow Naruto when Danzo turns everyone into a bunch of emotionless drones like those Root kids were?"

They held each others gaze for a second longer, each face twisted in anger, and then Jiraiya blinked and deflated, just a little. She was, after all, right. He did love the village, much as he hated to admit it. And besides, what would it mean if he saved Naruto and brought him back to a village that was no longer his home? He hadn't had time to really get to know Naruto, but what he did know, what he imagined he knew, told him that Naruto would want Konoha protected above all else.

Just as his father would have.

Jiraiya deflated more, his head dropping until his gray hair covered his face. Naruto had told him that Tsunade was supposed to be the next Hokage. It was a job that they both agreed she'd been born for. Related to the first two, taught by the Third, she couldn't be more perfectly groomed for the position.

But things were different from how Naruto remembered them. Whether it was the real reason or not, this Tsunade had never met Naruto and hadn't been offered the job after the Third's death. Perhaps that was all it took to completely change her willingness to take the title, or perhaps some other events were needed to convince her. Whatever the cause, it was too late. Naruto wasn't around and Tsunade had been forced to watch as the Third slowly slipped away despite her best efforts, another man she'd loved dying on her watch. This wasn't something that could be fixed, not by him anyway.

Without a word to Tsunade, Jiraiya crossed the room and knelt next to the bed, taking Sarutobi's cold, frail hand in his own. He gave the hand a gentle squeeze and waited until the Third Hokage opened his eyes. "I'll do it," he whispered.

ooo

Meat sizzled and popped, its sticky aroma filling the area as it cooked on a thin piece of slate that sat in the midst of a fire tucked away in the jagged clusters of rocks that dotted the arid region north of Iwagakure. A tall fat man hummed to himself as his greasy hands crushed a few scraggily herbs that he'd found growing in the shadow of a nearby boulder and sprinkled them over the meat before reaching down and flipped the meat over, smiling at the sight of one well cooked side already finished.

He reached for the swollen pouch that hung around his hip and popped the lid off of it, taking a long swig of the alcohol contained within, not minding the excess that spilled from his lips and ran down his dirty shirt. With a satisfied sigh, he poured a bit of it over the meat for some added flavoring. The fire roared when the alcohol rolled off the slate and into the pit, but quickly died back down.

A gentle crunching of rock alerted him to the intruder the moment before a dark haired boy stepped out from behind one of the nearby rocks. The man was instantly on guard, and he reached back and drew a long sword with a serrated edge out of the sheath on his back.

"What do you want?" he growled at the newcomer.

"Are you Sango? The one called the Shunshin?"

"Who's askin'?"

The boy tried to smile pleasantly, but his face didn't seem to be used to the movements. "I used to be called Gaara of the Sand."

"Never heard of ya. Go away."

Gaara didn't move. "I want information."

"And you think I have it?" Sango snorted. "You're starting to annoy me, brat, that ain't smart."

"I've been told you might know where Orochimaru has been keeping himself."

"What would I want with one of the Sannin?" Sango demanded, suddenly feeling more agitated then before. At his feet, the stench of burning meat rose up and filled his nostrils, but he didn't care. Mentioning Orochimaru suddenly made an irritating conversation far more serious. "And even if I did know where he was, what makes you think I'd tell a little pipsqueak like you?"

The young man's eyes narrowed. "I've met plenty of people like you. You'd sell your soul to save your own life."

There was no threat in his tone, but his calm words were enough. Sango had grown tired of talking and wanted Gaara gone. He advanced on the younger man, twirling the sword expertly. "I don't know who you were and I don't care, you just bought yourself a world of hurt."

When he was less than a meter away from the newcomer, he suddenly seemed to vanish, reappearing behind the boy a half-second later. "See you in hell."

The sword flashed through the air, slicing perfectly towards the young man's neck… but it never reached its target. Sand sprang up around the boy, catching the sword and then yanking it from its owner's hands.

The dark haired boy glanced over his shoulder and almost seemed to smile. "I'm pretty sure I know what hell looks like," he said softly. "I won't be going back."

Sango's eyes widened. He didn't know who he was facing, but for his opponent to be fast enough to block an attack that had killed dozens of ninja twice his age, he had to be good. To anyone watching, he seemed to vanish he fled so fast, reappearing on a rocky ledge several meters away. He glanced over his shoulder to see if he was being followed and was relieved to see that the boy was still standing in the same spot. Whoever he was, he seemed to have no trouble following Sango's movements because he was looking right at him. Still, following movement and keeping up with it were two very different things.

Sango smiled and leaped to the top of a nearby boulder.

Sand shot up from the ground and snagged him out of midair. Sango screamed in terror as he was completely cocooned before he could even think about struggling.

Gaara stood with his arm outstretched, hand flexed as if preparing to make a fist. His dark-ringed eyes seemed to cloud over for a second, but then he blinked and turned his hand, letting it relax as the sand slowly dragged its captive over to him. When it reached him, the sand around the top shifted, exposing Sango's head as he let out a loud gasp and greedily sucked in air.

"Where is Orochimaru?" Gaara asked.

"I don't know!"

The sand began to creep up his neck, ready to swallow him once more.

"I don't know!" Sango cried out again, his eyes wide and panicked.

"I don't believe you," Gaara told him calmly.

The sand was sliding up into his hair and inching its way along his jaw line.

"It is… _difficult_… not to kill you," Gaara whispered. "The monster inside me doesn't get to eat as much as it used to. Either tell me where Orochimaru is, or convince me that you don't know, but do it quickly… for both our sakes."

"Look, I've met him, okay?" Sango said, his lips quivering and slurring his words as they rushed out of his mouth. "Just a few days ago, he came to me for information on a town near here and some other stuff… That's all, I swear!"

Gaara stared at him long and hard, contemplating whether the man was telling the truth or not. Then he closed his eyes and let out a slow, shuddering breath. "I'm sorry," he said. "I don't believe you and I can't hold out any longer. If you have family, please tell me so I can return what's left of your body after I'm done with it."

The sand swirled up, completely enveloping everything but Sango's mouth.

"Wait!" he screamed. "Wait, I know something more! I've been to one of his bases! Please!"

The sand pulled back all the way down to the top of the man's neck.

"Where?" Gaara demanded.

"Just a few kilometers to the northeast. There're four small hills with a valley full of rock stacks between them, he's got a base in the second most northern hill. It's a cave with a pretty small entrance, kind of hidden behind some brush."

Gaara stared at him.

"That's all I know, I swear. I delivered some stuff there. I didn't get to go in, but I was close enough that I could see where they came out of when I got there."

"You're coming with us," Gaara said slowly. "If you're lying… there won't be enough of you left for your family to identify."

Two more people stepped into view. One was a tall girl with blond hair that hung around her shoulders wearing a modest, grey dress that came down to her knees and large, black object strapped to her back. The other was another boy, his hair was red and he too had something strapped to his back, though it was hard to be sure what it was since white sheets of cloth were wrapped around it. It was definitely not the same thing the girl was carrying.

"Sango Shunshin," the new boy laughed mockingly, shaking his head. "What a joke. I've seen slugs that move faster."

Sango glared at him, but said nothing as they dragged him along on their way to the base that he'd told them about. He wasn't sure what they wanted with Orochimaru, but trapped in the sand as he was, he was completely at their mercy. It would be better to keep his mouth shut and hope they didn't decide to kill him once they'd confirmed the information they wanted.

After observing the base for a few minutes, Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro retreated to safe distance, the sand dragging Sango along, and sat down to discuss their options. They would have to return to a nearby town and send a message to Jiraiya, that much was obvious, but what to do with Sango was not.

"We can't just let him walk," Kankuro argued. "If he tells Orochimaru or anyone else for that matter, we're dead. Someone like Orochimaru will have spies all over the place. We might have been identified already. _Shunshin_-san blabbing about what we're looking for will bring him and everyone in that base down on us in a heartbeat."

Temari nodded. "I agree. We can't let him go, it's too dangerous."

"He didn't do anything wrong," Gaara pointed out softly. "We don't have to kill him."

"Would you rather just let him stay with us?" Kankuro asked, crossing his arms across his chest. "The stench is bad enough, but what if he calls for help or something and someone hears him?"

Temari bit her lip. "Gaara, this wouldn't be like before," she said gently. "You won't be killing him for fun or just to prove that you can. He's a liability, one that we can't afford… but, if you'd prefer, Kankuro or I can do it."

Gaara was quiet for a moment, but then shook his head. "No, I can do it quicker and cleaner. I'll take care of it."

Sango's eyes widened as Gaara approached the cocoon of sand he was still trapped with in. "Please," he whispered, "I won't talk, I promise."

Gaara looked at him, his face sad, but something darker behind his eyes. "I'm sorry."

"N—" Sango never even finished the word. The sand covered him and then tightened so quickly that he was dead before he felt a thing or even realized what was about to happen.

Gaara watched as the sands fell away from the remains and then made its way back into the gourd on his back, carrying Sango Shunshin's blood with it. He looked down at his hand and noticed it trembling, but wasn't sure if it was excitement from the blood or fear of sliding back into what he'd been. He let his head fall back and stared up at the sky.

"It's not the same," he whispered.

ooo

Sasuke stared up at the awesome sight of the enormous cat and backed away as quickly as he could. The chakra radiating from Yugito was incredible, but the killer intent was like nothing he'd ever felt.

Yugito – if it was indeed still her – turned her glowing yellow eyes upon him and hissed. A blast of hot air hit Sasuke in the chest and nearly lifted him off the ground. She opened her mouth and a ball of flame began to form within it.

"Shit!" Sasuke turned to flee, knowing that chances were against him getting out of the blast radius of something so large and powerful.

A heavy stream of water struck Yugito in the face, but did nothing to douse the flame in her mouth. Sasuke looked up to see Izumo standing only a few meters away, the water jutsu spewing from his mouth.

An idea struck Sasuke. If he could stand just a little in front of Izumo and cast a lightning jutsu into the stream of water just as Izumo broke it off and leapt away, the water would guide his attack right into Yugito's mouth. Surely something like that would be enough to at least distract her while they got away… wouldn't it?

He turned to Izumo and was about to speak his plan when suddenly Yugito threw her hand – or paw, in this case – forward, stretching it farther than it seemed like it should go.

Izumo didn't even have time to look surprised before one of Yugito's claws sunk into his chest with a great spurt of gore. The water from his mouth faded and then stopped as the clawed hand lifted his body up and then with a casual flick of her wrist, she slammed him into the ground.

Sasuke stared in horror at the sight for a second that seemed to drag on for an eternity and then he dove out of the way as a clawed hand sought to give him a similar end.

"Shikamaru! Kotetsu! Fall back!" Sasuke yelled as he leapt away from another swipe of Yugito's claws.

Sasuke could see her attacks, but his Sharingan couldn't predict them. The chakra seemed to act without thought or without warning. There was no build up to the action, only the action itself, swift and deadly.

A third strike came at him and this time he was too slow. The claws raked across his chest, cutting open his flak jacket and splattering his blood on dirty ground. Sasuke stumbled back and almost fell into a pile of boxes that were more ash than wood by that point. He looked down at himself and groaned. The cuts were only flesh wounds, but they were deep, bloody flesh wounds.

He was exhausted and he was losing blood rapidly. Yugito was going to win.

The enormous cat looked down at him and almost seemed to smile. They she let out a screaming howl that chilled him to his bones…

But not as much as what he saw next did.

Izumo slowly began to pick himself up off the ground, blood still pouring out of the hole in his chest that should have removed both his lungs and probably at least part of his heart. There was no way he was still alive, but that didn't seem to be stopping him as he picked up his large kunai and spun it expertly in his hands.

Without warning, he rushed at Sasuke, weapon streaking through the air. Sasuke twisted to the side and then threw himself backwards to avoid the follow up strike. Just as he hit the ground his eyes caught a hint of movement coming at him from the side, he rolled away as Yugito's claws sunk into the ground where he'd been.

Izumo didn't slow his attack for a second. Sasuke quickly got to his feet and took off running as fast as he could towards the spot where his sword was lying on the ground. He had to dive over Yugito's claws to get it, but when he was back on his feet, he was armed once more.

Izumo's kunai crashed into Sasuke's sword with impressive strength, but the deceased Leaf-nin was flatfooted and Sasuke twisted away and slashed backwards with his sword, cutting deeply into Izumo's back.

Izumo turned towards him as if the blow hadn't even landed and attacked once more.

Sasuke's next strike was aimed to do far more damage, cutting Izumo's hand off at the wrist and knocking the weapon away from him.

Izumo ignored the wound at simply grabbed at him. Sasuke tried to twist away, but the dead jounin's hand held tight, keeping him from escaping. It wasn't hard to guess what was coming next. Sasuke looked over his shoulder and saw the blue cat open its mouth as the ball of fire swirled within it.

With the last of his strength, Sasuke spun Izumo's body in between himself and the blast. It wouldn't be much, but perhaps it would give him a little protection.

He closed his eyes and whispered an apology to Sakura and Naruto.

"Hold tight Sasuke, I've got you," Kakashi's voice whispered in his ear just before the explosion went off.

Sasuke felt the flash of heat, the burning of his skin, and then he knew no more.

ooo

Two figures in dark cloaks made their way slowly through the wind swept desert in near silence. Looking back, it seemed that their tracks extended all the way to the horizon, though in truth they hadn't been walking quite that far. It did, however, _seem _like it to one of them.

"Are you sure he's here, hmm?" one of the men asked the other. "We've been looking for a long time. If this is another dead end…"

"Shut your mouth, Deidara," the larger of the two growled. "My sources are certain this time."

"Yeah, I've heard that before, hmm," Deidara grumbled. "Sometimes your sources are full of shit, Sasori."

"Wait and see," Sasori growled back. "Orochimaru is very close. It won't be long now."

o

o

A/N: Well, hopefully this chapter was interesting to everyone. It was kind of a strange chapter for me because I pretty much had it done and then suddenly decided that nearly all of it was crap and needed to be rewritten. All the stuff with Sasuke is completely new, as are Naruto, Tsunade, and Jiraiya's scenes. Really, the only thing that mostly made it from the original version of this chapter was Gaara's scene, but that was probably because it was still real rough when I started changing things, so it wasn't hard to save it.

When did I start making all these changes you ask? Oh, Thursday afternoon. Smart, huh?

Since Yugito was a pretty minor character (only around for two or three chapters before Hidan and Karuza killed her), I should probably explain a bit about her powers in this chapter. We really don't get to see what she can do in canon other than her ability to transform into her tailed beast at will and spitting fireballs from her mouth. The manipulating the dead ability that she has in this chapter isn't really confirmed and probably won't ever be. According to Japanese myth, however, the _nekomata _(a monster cat that had its tail split in two) has the ability to control the dead as though they were puppets. Since Yugito's tailed beast is based on this legend, I thought it would be cool for it to have that power. I'm sure I'm not the only one who's had this idea, but it definitely isn't canon.

Speaking of the dead being controlled like puppets, for those of you who are fans of Kamizuki Izumo (or at least know who he is), sorry. I felt like I needed to kill someone and he seemed like a good minor character to get the axe. It was a toss up between him and Genma.

In other news, one of my readers, Erendhyl, asked if she could do the flashback scene from Time and Again where Hinata tells Naruto about her upcoming marriage (and he quite densely misses her pretty obvious declaration of love to him) as a story from Hinata's point of view. I thought it sounded like a really cool idea and said yes (which I pretty much always do in situations like that). The resulting story, Tsuki no Kage (which can be found in my favorites section), is extremely well done, I think. Actually, it made me wish that I could have somehow done the scene from Hinata's point of view since it seemed to work so much better that way. With Naruto's (somewhat frustrating) cluelessness out of the way, you can really see Hinata's self-sacrifice. Anyway, after you've reviewed here (hint, hint) pop on over there and give that story a read/review, it's well worth it.

Thanks for reading!

Chokuto – an old style of Japanese sword. As near as I can tell, it's very similar to the katana except the blade is straight. This is essentially the type of sword that Sasuke uses after the time skip in canon, though the sword he has now is obviously not the same as the one Orochimaru gives him… though it would be a funny, if illogical, twist of fate if it was…

Methylmorphine – another, more doctorish, name for Codeine a drug that (among several other things) helps suppress the body's urge to cough.

Suiton: Mizuame Nabara – "Water Release: Syrup Capture Field." This jutsu creates a stream of sticky syrupy which is spit onto the ground to form a trap. It's kind of like fly paper, I guess. Izumo is the only person, to my knowledge, who uses it. It was first (and last) seen in the fight against Kakuzu and Hidan in which Asuma is killed.

Kamizuki Izumo and Hagane Kotetsu – These are two of the proctors in for the Chuunin Exam. They are the ones who use the genjutsu to try to keep most of the genin from ever reaching the testing room. They are later seen sitting near Hinata and Kiba during the Finals, remarking on Naruto's chances against Neji. In part 2, they are on Asuma and Shikamaru's team when the fight Hidan and Kakuzu (when Asuma is killed). In the anime, they become Tsunade's assistants (meaning they get stuck carrying around and sorting her paperwork) after she becomes Hokage. Kotetsu is the one with spiky hair while Izumo has hair that hangs down in his face and wears a bandana style hitai-ate.


	3. Taking the Name Hokage

Chapter 2: Taking the Name Hokage

o

Hinata sipped her tea and leaned back against one of the posts holding up the awning that covered the walkway around her family's inner courtyard and sighed as she looked at the pretty tree in the center of the open area. She closed her eyes and enjoying the warmth of the morning sun on her face as it rose just high enough to peek at her over the top of the roof. It was hard to believe that just a few days earlier she'd been on a mission with Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino in which they'd had to fight their way past an ambush that had nearly taken their lives. Her body still ached from the beating it had taken during the fighting and if she twisted her torso too much to the right, a large scab from a burn she'd received would crack open and bleed all over yet another shirt (her second in the still-young day).

Fortunately, sitting and sipping tea while enjoying the sunshine and peace of the moment didn't require her to twist in any direction, so her shirt was safe for the moment.

The tree in the middle of the courtyard was beginning to bud in the springtime warmth. It wouldn't be too long before they'd have pretty sakura petals gently falling to the ground like snowflakes. Hinata smiled at the thought, as she always did when this time of year rolled around, and then wiped away a tear that had appeared in her eye.

The tree had been planted shortly after her mother had died. It was a sort of memorial to her as well as a sign to those in mourning that they're outward sadness was to be buried. They were Hyuuga, after all, and that meant that they had to be constantly in control of their emotions, always projecting a sense of strength.

Hanabi had been only a newborn, to young to understand or be held accountable for her actions. She'd cried when the tree that had been there before was pulled free and crashed to the ground, waking her from the almost continuous nap that babies took those first few days.

Hinata had cried as well, but there hadn't been as much forgiveness for her weakness. She didn't think that they completely held it against her, she was only five at the time, but no doubt it was just one more thing that lowered her stock in the eyes of those around her. Looking back on it now, it didn't seem to her that a child's overwhelming grief over a beloved mother was a fair thing to hold against her.

A slight breeze rustled through the leaves of the tree, drawing Hinata's attention away from the past.

For the past few months, whenever she looked at the tree, she considered planting a tree for Naruto. According to her father, Naruto's status was somewhat up in the air, though neither of the proposed options were very appealing. In the eyes of the village government, he was either dead or a missing-nin that should be killed on sight.

Hinata knew Naruto wasn't a missing-nin. She doubted anyone other than the Hokage loved the village as much as Naruto did, but she wasn't so sure about whether or not he was dead. She wanted to believe that he was alive – really, really wanted to believe – but after so much time, it was hard to hold out hope.

Perhaps, if she planted a tree for him, it would be easier to let go. Then she could go and visit it and think back on the time she'd been able to enjoy with him. During the spring, it would blossom and she would think about how incredible he'd been during the Chuunin Exam when he'd showed everyone that he was not the "dead last" that they thought him to be. In the fall, the leaves would turn pretty colors and she would think about climbing trees and training with him.

It would be nice… but it was too early.

Almost two years was not nearly long enough to give up hope and allow herself to completely move on. Planting a tree would just be too final.

Three years was better. At that point, it would be very unlikely that he would ever come back…

Of course, four years was a nice round number and that made more sense…

Though five was half a decade. That probably would be enough time and the words "half a decade" seemed very final sounding. Yes, five years was better than four…

ooo

Blood pooled in Naruto's mouth, rolled slowly over his teeth and then dribbled down his chest and onto the floor. For a moment, he remained where he was, held up not by his own muscles, but by the force of the blow that had actually sunk him a few centimeters into the wall.

He wished he was dead.

Across the room, his cellmate, a young man not much older than himself named Juugo, was being dragged back towards the far wall by the chains wrapped around his body. It was hard for Naruto to focus on it with the ringing in his ears, but Juugo was probably alternating between demanding to be allowed to kill Naruto and begging to be taken away so that he _wouldn't_ kill Naruto as he always did whenever he'd been pulled away during their past few hours or days or months as cellmates – it was hard to be sure how much time had passed, everything seems to blend together when you're getting beaten to a pulp. The strange physical transformations that Juugo went through, seemingly at will, were still slowly fading, giving him a lopsided appearance with one arm so much larger than the other.

Naruto's body began to roll forward, tipping him dangerously off balance, but he lacked the strength to stop the fall.

His head hit the hard floor with a loud crack as stars exploded in front of his eyes.

Somewhere, far, far away it seemed, a heavy metal door slid open and footsteps scuffed across the floor. A powerful hand wound its way through Naruto's long hair and then yanked sharply, dragging him into a kneeling position. The light streaming through the door to the cell was bright enough to agitate Naruto's eyes, but a little watering was nothing compared to the trouble that was glaring at him.

"What do you have to say for yourself today, Naruto-kun?" Orochimaru asked.

Naruto looked at him for a moment, wishing he didn't feel the fear that was clenching his gut, and then let his eyes drift away. He let out a hard sigh, spraying the blood from his mouth into Orochimaru's face.

"Still aren't feeling talkative, are you? That's alright," Orochimaru glanced over at the older prisoner and smiled, "Juugo doesn't tire as easily as some." He pushed Naruto aside, sending the blond tumbling to the ground, panting and unable to move. For a moment, Orochimaru stared down at Naruto and then, with an almost sad shake of his head, he said, "The Third Hokage is dying, have I told you that?"

He had.

"It won't be long, from what I hear. A pity. The old man deserved to go out fighting giving his life for something he believed in, not lying in a bed struggling to breathe. You and your jutsu robbed him of some of his glory." Orochimaru waited for Naruto to respond, and when he didn't, he added, "How many others will suffer the same fate?"

That comment caused Naruto to flinch. Not much, but enough that it was noticeable.

"Perhaps the problem we're having is that you don't really care about yourself," Orochimaru mused. "Maybe you're the wrong person for me to be torturing for information. I wonder if you would be so willing to let another suffer because you refuse to speak."

Naruto turned his head just enough so that he could glare up at his hated enemy between the long, greasy locks of blond hair hanging down in his face.

Orochimaru chuckled. "Oh, _that's_ right; I'd nearly forgotten that we already tried that. You didn't seem to care about them either." He knelt next to Naruto, ignoring the glare he was receiving, and said, "I'm going to let you think about this for a while: I'm growing impatient.

"We both know that your body can't keep this up forever. To that end, I'm going to do what I need to in order to get you to start talking. Up until now, I've been lenient on you, but that's coming to an end. The next time I open that door, I'm going to have someone important to you with me. Maybe it will be that little pink haired girl, Sakura, or perhaps the Hyuuga heiress, or maybe the Third's grandson. I doubt it really matters which I get a hold of. Whoever it is, I'm going to spend _days_ killing them right in front of you, making sure they know that you could end their suffering with just a few short words."

A tremble of fear and impotent rage coursed through Naruto's body. He tried to get up to do… something, anything, but Orochimaru brought his hand down on Naruto's back and slammed him back down to the ground before he rose more than a few centimeters.

"Ku ku ku. Think about it, Naruto-kun. I'll be expecting a good answer when we see each other next time." He rose and glanced over his shoulder towards the doorway. "Clean him up," he growled as he strode out of the cell.

The next thing Naruto knew, cool, gentle hands were easing him onto his back and then checking his body for injuries.

"They really made a mess of you this time," Karin whispered. Her prodding fingers reached his arm and stopped when she felt a broken bone. "Brace yourself, this is going to hurt."

ooo

As Sasuke's eyes slowly fluttered open, he found himself lying in a bed, staring up at a white ceiling with small cracks in the plaster and a few brown flecks that looked suspiciously like dried blood. It wasn't the first time he'd woken in a strange place with no recollection of how he'd gotten there, but that didn't make the sensation any less unsettling.

As he slowly took stock of his surroundings, he became aware of something warm resting against his left hand. Without moving his head too much, he glanced down at his hand and found a head of thick pink hair that could only belong to one person.

Sakura mumbled something incoherent in her sleep and began to snore softly.

Sasuke smiled for a second, but then pushed the expression off his face as his mind turned to more important matters. For some reason, he was back in Konoha. More specifically, he was in Konoha's hospital. That meant, normally, that he'd been hurt.

It took a few minutes of hard work, but then the memory of Yugito appeared in his mind and he had at least an idea of why he was in the hospital… though how he was still alive was another matter altogether.

Perhaps Sakura would have some answers for him when she woke up.

He could have woken her, of course, but there was no real rush. For her to have fallen asleep in that position, she'd probably been up all night keeping him alive or at least watching over him. It didn't hurt anything to let her sleep a little longer.

Unconsciously, his index finger began to twirl a strand of her hair while he watched her sleep.

Sakura was something of a conundrum for him. He cared about her… as a friend… and was proud of what she'd become in such a short period of time, but whenever he was around her, he found himself wishing he could be somewhere else. It wasn't that he didn't _want_ to be around her, but there was just something uncomfortable about it.

For one thing, she'd kissed him. Sure, it had been two years ago and she'd thought she was going to die and never see him again, but that didn't change the fact that she'd kissed him. It had been his first kiss, but more importantly, it had meant something to Sakura. It was her way of officially telling him how she felt.

And a little while later, he'd walked into a room, not unlike this one, and told her that her hopes and feelings were in vain. That he could never return them. That she shouldn't use the word "us" because there was no _us_.

He didn't regret it… at least, he was pretty certain he didn't regret it, but it did make things awkward, at least for him.

Sakura didn't ever bring it up again. She never said anything or did anything that anyone could point to as evidence that she still carried a torch for him, but every once in a while he thought he saw something in her eyes that told him she still wanted the same thing from him that she'd always wanted. Only, since she didn't talk about it or do anything that would bring it up, he couldn't tell her to stop.

Sometimes he thought that it was just some subconscious arrogance that interpreted a perfectly innocent smile or glance as more than it really meant just because he didn't think anyone could get over him.

He didn't really believe that, but it did fit nicely with the arrogance he _was_ consciously aware of. After all, he was Uchiha and the Uchiha were the best.

Sakura stirred and leaned into his hand. Without thinking, he lifted his fingers and gently brushed them against her head.

The moment he realized what he was doing, he pulled his hand back, shifting enough in the bed that Sakura felt it and groggily lifted her head off the bed.

"You're awake," she said with a sleepy smile that became a large yawn. She looked out the window at the midmorning light and blinked owlishly. "How long have I been laying here?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I just woke up a minute ago."

Sakura groaned, got out of her chair and placed her hands on the small of her back as she arched back, stretching her stiff muscles. Sasuke quickly looked away, wondering if she was really unaware of what she was doing or was just in the mood to mess with him since they hadn't seen each other in several weeks.

"How did I get here?" he asked.

Sakura cracked her neck twice, once in each direction, and then told him about how he was brought in by Kakashi – who had been injured as well, but had been treated and was probably already on another mission – a day and a half earlier, only a few hours after the town they'd been fighting in had all but been destroyed by Yugito and the other Cloud-nin. Several others had been brought in, of course, including Shikamaru. Most of those who'd lived long enough to make it to the hospital had done so because their injuries weren't too severe. Shikamaru had been discharged the day before.

The casualties weren't officially known, but Sakura said she'd heard that something close to fifty Leaf-nin had been killed during the fighting for the little town.

"I do have some good news," Sakura said as she finished giving him the last of the unpleasant story. "Jiraiya-sama is going to become the new Hokage!"

Sasuke frowned. "Really?"

"That's what Tsunade-sama says."

"He's back then?"

Sakura nodded. "He got back the day before Kakashi-sensei brought you in. Tsunade-sama wouldn't say what he found out this time, but…" she paused, picking her words carefully, "…it seems… _odd_… that he decided to agree to become Hokage right after he got back."

"You think Naruto's dead," Sasuke interpreted for her, probably picking the exact words that she hadn't wanted to say.

For a long moment, she didn't seem to have an answer to that. Then, in a quiet voice, she said, "No, not really, I guess. I think Jiraiya-sama might be giving up though. Or maybe he thinks if he's Hokage, he can get more people to help him. I can't think of any other reason for him to change his mind so suddenly."

Sasuke accepted her answer with a grunt and slowly sat all the way up, pushing the blankets off of himself…

… and then quickly pulling them back up when he saw that he was only wearing a hospital gown, and not one that fit him particularly well.

"Where are my clothes?!?"

Sakura put her hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh at him and not doing a very good job of it. He was certain she was happy for the excuse to change the subject away from their long-lost teammate.

"It's not anything I haven't already seen, Sasuke-kun," she told him as she crossed the room and picked up some clothes that she had apparently retrieved from his apartment for him. "You were cut and burned from head to toe practically. I…" she blushed a little and winked at him, "…don't worry, you have nothing to be ashamed of as near as I can tell."

Sasuke found himself wishing that Yugito had managed to kill him off. "Just give me the clothes and get out."

Sakura tossed them to him. "Do you want to go get something to eat after you're dressed?" she asked, probably trying to change the subject for him; unless, of course she was just hoping for more opportunities to tease him.

"Sure," he looked out the window again. "Ichiraku is probably open by now."

Sakura's face fell and she let out a long sigh. "Sasuke-kun, please, don't keep doing this to yourself."

"Doing what?" he growled, already knowing the answer. It seemed like they had this conversation every time they were in the village together.

"Torturing yourself!" Sakura cried, throwing her hands up in exasperation. "Naruto's _gone_. I wish he wasn't, I wish we could change it, but it's been two _years_. You have to move on."

"Is that what you've done?" he snapped. "Did you just forget about him and move on with your life?"

Sakura covered her face with her hands, pushing her fingers against her eyes and then slid them together so she could pinch the bridge of her nose. He knew she hated talking about their former teammate with him, or with anyone else for that matter. It wasn't hard to see that she missed Naruto terribly. She was in the village more than he was, so it was probably worse for her. He could try to distract himself with the missions and war, but she had been spending more and more time off the front lines as her abilities became more and more useful to the village hospital. She was constantly surrounded by things that reminded her of him.

Sasuke had once heard her gasp as a crowd of people had passed them and one of the members had been a young woman with blond hair that was spiky at the top. Neither of them had commented on it at the time, but now he wondered how often she thought she saw him as she walked past some of the places they'd hung out during their time as Team Seven.

A part of him felt ashamed for accusing her of forgetting him.

"Of course I haven't forgotten him," she answered in as calm a voice as she could muster, but he saw her throat constrict as she finished. "I won't _ever_ forget him, but eventually… eventually you have to be realistic. I've read everything I could find on Orochimaru. Hell, I spent practically a whole night talking Tsunade-sama into telling me all she knew about him! I've even managed to find the reports of his experiments…" her voice trailed off and she took a slow deep breath to calm herself.

"Sasuke-kun," she whispered after a few seconds, a tear trickling down her cheek, "the… pictures… in some of those reports… it wouldn't take Orochimaru two years to reduce Naruto to something we wouldn't even recognize as human… and that would be if the experiment was actually a success. I'm sorry… Naruto's gone and… I don't think he's coming back."

Sasuke's jaw flexed and his eyes burned in a way that once would have sent her scurrying away or at least would have had her apologizing for even thinking something that he disagreed with, but those days were long gone now. She wasn't that little girl with the crush. She was a fully trained ninja. She'd fought on the frontlines of a war. She'd sat in a field, covered in blood, trying to keep a fellow Leaf shinobi from bleeding to death. She'd saved people and killed people. She'd made hard choices and learned to accept the consequences. He just couldn't scare her anymore.

Probably, that was a good thing.

Sakura took a step towards him and gently touched his arm. "Sasuke-kun," she whispered with a sniffle, "I just don't want to see you keep hurting yourself like this, but… if it's so important to you, we can go to Ichiraku. Just, let's not talk about finding Naruto or anything like that." She gave him a sad smile. "Let's try to remember the good times we had with him."

Sasuke's muscles remained tense under her fingertips, but then slowly relaxed as he took a deep breath and nodded. "Fine," he grunted, it was a painful concession, but she was probably right.

Not about Naruto never coming back, of course. Sasuke would only believe that when he saw Naruto's body with his own eyes – a sight that if he ever saw it would be quickly followed by the sight of Orochimaru's head being removed from his neck – but when he was with Sakura, it would probably be better to remember the good times. She didn't understand how to be an Avenger like he did. Dark thoughts didn't give her strength. With her, he could let a little bit of light in, just enough to keep him from completely slipping into the darkness.

It was probably something Naruto would approve of anyway.

ooo

Kurenai had sent word that Hinata and her teammates were supposed to meet her at the training grounds, so Hinata had used it as an excuse to get out of the house. Technically, she was two hours early to the meeting, but it was important to be punctual, particularly when some of the clan Elders had been expressing interest in hearing about her mission. No doubt, they would – depending on whether or not her father was present – either congratulate her on dispatching four enemies on her own or scold her for letting such a large group ambush her team.

Hinata didn't think taking a life – even an enemy's life – was something to be congratulated for. If that was what they wanted to do, they would be better off talking to Shino and Kiba since they'd taken care of most of the ambushers. She felt bad enough about not seeing the trap as it was, she didn't need anyone to add to her shame in that department.

Just as she reached the training posts, she heard the rhythmic thumping of the ground as someone ran towards her and opened her eyes to find Hanabi moving quickly across the grass. It was rare to see Hanabi outside of their family compound, rarer still to find her not in the presence of one of the Elders. Hinata was certain that Hanabi was supposed to be spending her day with their father as he dealt with some business.

That was another reason she'd been so quick to latch onto an excuse to get out of the house that morning.

"Father is asking for you!" Hanabi called without any greeting.

Hinata rose smoothly to her feet. "Why?" she asked, a strange sense of dread building in her.

"I don't know, but…"

Hanabi didn't need to take it any farther. For their father to ask for her, for him to send Hanabi to get her, it had to be important. Hinata accepted the non-explanation with a nod and the two raced back towards their house.

When she got there, Hinata found her father sitting alone in the room used for meeting with dignitaries, his legs crossed as his eyes closed. "Come in and shut the door," he told them without opening his eyes.

Hanabi closed the door and then she and Hinata took their places in front of him, bowing their heads and waiting for him to tell them what he had to say.

Hiashi did not make them wait long. "I have made a decision that will greatly affect the future of the village. For better or ill, I cannot say."

The two young women exchanged glances and then Hanabi asked, "What decision have you made?"

Hiashi's eyes drifted from her to Hinata. "A tsunami was upon us," he said softly. "We could either be crushed or join the wave. In the end, the Hyuuga must survive."

Hinata sucked in a sharp breath. "P-please, father, what has happened?"

Hiashi let out a slow breath and then his eyes shifted to the window through which he could see the tree that was planted in the courtyard. "There will be a new Hokage," he whispered. "The Hyuuga could no longer refrain from joining the wave that will sweep through the village this afternoon."

ooo

The Council did not see Jiraiya as soon as he'd sent word that he would accept the position of Hokage. They didn't see him the next day either. Now, on the third day, they were finally getting around to it.

It was an insult. It was the sort of insult that they never would have dared to give him when the Third was still in charge. It was the sort of insult that said they were feeling more powerful than any Village Council ever had before them during the relatively brief history of Konoha.

It was the sort of insult that he'd expected from them.

They'd had over a year of basically running the village by themselves. His appointment as Hokage would take some of that power away from them. No doubt a few had hoped that the Third would die before Jiraiya or Tsunade acquiesced to the duty he'd set before them. Most every member, certainly all of the senior members, of the Council were aware of the Third's state. They knew the end wasn't far off. A few more days or weeks and Jiraiya and Tsunade would have to have been nominated by the Council to take the title of Hokage.

Were it not for some of the more troubling members of the Council, Jiraiya would have been happy to leave the process up to them.

Unfortunately, he couldn't do that. He had a duty to Naruto, to Minato, and to the Third, much as he wanted to, he couldn't turn his back on that.

It just would have been so much easier if _Tsunade_ had taken up the burden for him!

Still, it wasn't all bad, he thought as his hand patted the small slip of paper in his pocket. Being Hokage would open some very important and useful options that might otherwise have been closed to him.

Jiraiya sighed and rubbed his weary eyes as he stood before the doors to the room the Council had designated for the meeting. It could be argued that he'd gone to great lengths to avoid doing what he was about to do. He'd trained someone to be the perfect person to take the job, he'd left the village for several years, he'd outright turned the job down, he'd tried to talk someone he considered to be more qualified into taking it… the really wasn't anything more he could do to keep the hat off his head.

_'Stupid fate,'_ he grumbled to himself as he pushed the doors open and entered the crowded room.

"Jiraiya," Mitokado Homura said in an almost surprised-sounding voice as he looked up, "thank you for your patience."

Jiraiya did his best to smile good naturedly at the Third's old teammate. "Of course, things have been busy lately."

Homura nodded and ran his hand along his gray beard as he motioned for Jiraiya to take his place at a small table set apart from where the Council was seated. Jiraiya rolled his eyes as he noted the lack of a chair for him to sit in. Were they really planning on being this childish about the whole thing?

Without acting as though anything were out of the ordinary, Jiraiya bit his thumb and pressed his hand onto the ground. Dark seals spread out from his palm and in a puff of smoke, a large, orange toad appeared beneath him.

The toad looked up curiously as Jiraiya crossed his legs and got comfortable.

"Sorry," the Toad Sennin whispered. "Next time I'll call you, it'll be when I'm at a bath house."

"Yeah, because that's always so much fun," the toad replied with a roll of his large eyes.

"Plus," Jiraiya continued as if the toad hadn't said anything, "you can let everyone on Myobokuzan know how this goes."

"Oh, goody…"

"You all know why we are here," Danzo spoke up before Jiraiya could offer a retort to the toad. "Jiraiya has been nominated by the Third to take the title of Hokage and has _finally_ decided to accept the nomination."

The Council members all nodded, none of them looked Jiraiya in the eyes.

"You also know my feelings on this matter…" Danzo went on.

"I don't," Jiraiya pointed out calmly.

Danzo seemed almost caught off guard by the interruption. His head was wrapped in bandages, his right eye completely hidden by them, so he had to turn slightly to glare at Jiraiya. "You aren't really a member of Konoha anymore," he told Jiraiya coldly. "You left the village for a great many years while you traveled, ignoring requests for you to return. When you did come back, you spent all of your time with Uzumaki Naruto and then quickly left again. And then, after the boy's… _apparent_ abduction, you told this Council that you would not be counted as one of Konoha's resources and that you would not join the war effort, despite our need."  
Jiraiya let his eyes drift from Danzo to the other members of the Council. None of them looked too uncomfortable with what was being said. Even Homura and the Third's other teammate, Utatane Koharu, were not shuffling awkwardly in their seats or appearing to consider arguing the conclusion Danzo was obviously working towards. Jiraiya knew that neither of the Third's teammates were overly found of him. Homura was too stuffy and serious and Koharu still held a bit of a grudge for the time she _thought_ she'd caught a much younger Jiraiya peeking on her while she was changing (he'd tried to explain that she was the last person he'd _ever_ want to peek at, but that hadn't really raised his stocks any with her).

"The one who takes the title of Hokage must lead this village. The one who takes the title of Hokage must be a part of this village. The one who takes the title of Hokage should not be a man who is barely still a member of the village, who probably couldn't find his way to the ANBU headquarters from here without stopping to get directions."

Jiraiya wanted to argue that Danzo was completely off base, but before he could, it occurred to him that he probably _couldn't_ find the ANBU headquarters if they'd moved it in the past ten years or so. He'd had no reason to visit it since returning to the village.

Danzo leveled his gaze at Jiraiya and, in an even voice, said, "I call for a vote on Jiraiya's nomination."

Koharu nodded, the gray bun of hair on the back of her head bouncing. "All in favor?"

No one raised their hand.

Jiraiya let his eyes drift from one Council member to the next. He'd underestimated just how big of a mistake he'd made by alienating Konoha's power base and focusing so completely on finding Naruto. Never in a million years would he have guessed that the Council would take such an unprecedented step by denying a living Hokage's wishes concerning his successor.

Granted, there had never been circumstances like this surrounding the selecting of a new Hokage, but it was still surprising to see.

"For you to take such a step," Jiraiya said softly, "you must have received the backing from a great many of the clans."

Danzo smiled victoriously. "Almost all of them."

"Will we continue without a Hokage?"

"_We_ will have a new Hokage by the end of the day; _you_ aren't really a part of this village, so it doesn't concern you."

Jiraiya looked at Homura and Koharu. "The old man would be disappointed in you," he told them coldly.

Homura adjusted his glasses, a nervous gesture that Jiraiya hadn't seen out of him in years, maybe decades. "I think the Third would understand that what we do, we do for the good of the village. I'm sorry, Jiraiya, but we don't feel that you are the right person for this job."

Jiraiya shrugged. "No argument there, but don't try to act all high and noble about it. I know how this group works. The only way you'd go against tradition like this is if you were all scared or," his eyes turned towards Danzo, "someone saw an opportunity." He stood and hopped off of the toad as it disappeared in a cloud of smoke. "_For the good of the village_," he snorted, "I never realized you had a sense of humor."

Without waiting to be dismissed, he turned and headed for the door. They'd made their decision, nothing he could say would change it.

"Jiraiya," Danzo called out just before he reached the door, "When the new Hokage takes office, he'll be calling up all those who have been on reserve. Regardless of how they feel on the matter, if they don't report in as _resources_, they'll be considered missing-nin."

Jiraiya absorbed that for a moment and then pushed the doors open and walked out.

ooo

A sharp twist of his hands set the bone and sent agonizing pain up his arm and down the length of his body. Naruto let out a small grunt, but held the worst of it in.

With the bone set, Karin began to work away over the rest of his body. "Sorry about that," she said softly. "I can heal you, but the bones won't heal right if I don't set them first."

He nodded without comment; she told him the same thing every time Orochimaru or someone else did something that broke his body.

Karin quickly finished her examination and then slid her hand under his neck and slowly helped him sit up. Her hands cupped his cheeks keeping his head more or less upright as she stared questioningly into his eyes. "What are you going to do?"

Naruto swallowed and then looked past her to where Juugo was sitting – quietly for a change – against the far wall, chains holding him in place should he try to move.

Karin turned his head so he was looking at her once more. "Are you really going to make Orochimaru-sama start killing your friends just to keep your secret?"

Naruto scowled and pulled his face away from her hands.

Karin sighed, adjusting her glasses, and said, "Look, as a friend, let me give you some advice: just let Orochimaru-sama have what he wants."

"If I do that, people will die."

Karin patted him gently on the shoulder, careful to avoid putting too much pressure on any of his injuries. "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun, but people are going to die no matter what. If you give Orochimaru-sama what he wants, maybe fewer of them will. Definitely fewer will die right in front of you. That's probably the best thing you could hope for at his point."

Naruto had no answer for her. He knew she was wrong, or at least he was pretty certain that two years earlier he would have been sure that she was wrong, but the facts were that he couldn't protect anyone from where he was and he wasn't sure he would be able to hold out if one of his friends – his _real_ friends – were dragged in front of him and executed because he refused to admit that there was no time travel jutsu.

Karin let him think about it for a few seconds and then said began to pull up her right shirt sleeve. "Come on, let's get this over with."

A part of him wanted to refuse the healing, but – as always – the moment her soft skin touched his dried, cracked lips, he opened his mouth and dutifully bit down, drawing the healing chakra into his body.

The first few times Karin had healed him, he'd tried to resist. Every time, however, his resolve broke just as it had here. During his more lucid days, he'd often wondered if there wasn't some sort of pheromone released by her skin that caused him to bit down on her. Certainly as time went on, he'd found himself becoming more and more willing to receive the healing, sometimes he even craved it just a little, almost as if there was an addictive property to it.

From what he remembered of her past when he'd read about it in the future, her mother had had the same ability. If that was true, then it might have explained Karin's comment that men came and used her mother up. They'd been addicted to more than just what she offered them as part of her job as a prostitute.

With his wounds healed, Karin sat down next to him, breathing heavily from the exertion of him sucking chakra out of her body.

As her breathing returned to normal, Karin leaned over and kissed him softly on the forehead. "You're a good man," she whispered without pulling away, her lips lightly brushing against his skin in a way that was strangely pleasant and totally out of place with his surroundings. "Good men deserve better than what you've been put through the last two years."

She pulled back and brushed his dirty hair out of his eyes, smiling at the small lipstick mark she'd left on his forehead. "Please, just give Orochimaru what he wants. I don't know if I can keep coming and seeing you being treated like this."

Naruto looked up at her; his guts feeling like Juugo had flipped them upside down during his beating. "Y-you could always… h-help me es-escape," he whispered hoarsely.

She smiled sadly and ran her finger tips along his cheek. "I wish I could," she told him and he wanted to believe her, "but when I come in here, there are always six guards waiting just outside, plus a few more watching through the video camera. I'd just get both of us killed if I tried it."

Naruto sighed and looked away, nodding slowly in understanding.

Karin watched him carefully for a moment and then asked, "What is it that you have that makes Orochimaru-sama so crazy?"

Naruto closed his mouth, refusing to reply.

Karin waited for almost a minute before pushing a little harder. "It must be really important. I've never seem him like this before, or with anything else."

Naruto remained silent.

"Right," Karin said, slowly standing and turning towards the door, "I guess I forgot that I'm just Orochimaru's whore, didn't I? The two of you use me to keep you alive, but after that, you just toss me aside."

She scowled down at him so fiercely that Naruto felt his insides freeze. He didn't _want_ to make her mad. She took two steps towards the door, while he debated what he wanted to do.

"Sorry, Naruto-kun," she whispered when she reached the door. "You'll have to find another whore. I won't be coming back again. Please… don't make too many people suffer for whatever it is that you know."

"T-time travel," Naruto whispered, hating himself for it, but unable to stop. She was his only real companion, besides Juugo, when he wasn't lost in his insanity, if she left… he didn't think he could take it.

Karin paused and turned around, staring down at him. She glanced at the door, which was closed, and then at Juugo who was watching the whole scene in silence. There was an almost serene expression on the large man's face, the same look he always got when he came down off of the high he received whenever he gave into his blood lust.

"Time travel?" Karin repeated in a hushed voice. "What do you mean?"

"I h-have a… a time travel j-jutsu," Naruto told her. He'd meant to say: Orochimaru _thinks_ I have a time travel jutsu, but somewhere between his brain and his lips, the words had been altered. He was so weary of the whole mess, he wasn't sure why he'd gone back to lying to his friend, but it was too late to take back his words. If he recanted them now, there was the chance that she really would leave… and the more he thought about it, the less he wanted to actually tell the truth anyway.

Karin swallowed hard. "A time travel _jutsu_?" She gave him an incredulous look. "You have a jutsu that lets you travel back in time?"

Naruto nodded. Now that she wasn't threatening to never return, it was easier to think clearly. He hadn't realized just how dangerously attached to her he actually was. She was better at her job than he'd realized… assuming it _really_ was her job to get him to fess up. It was hard to think she'd do something like that to him, they were friends after all, but the small part of his brain that did think so was pretty certain of it.

"I-in the future," he whispered, "I was sort of the Hokage of Konoha. We were… fighting a war… it wasn't going well, s-so I invented a jutsu that would… fix things," he smiled and looked pointedly around the room, "it didn't quite go the way I thought it would."

Karin frowned as her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Are you just messing around with me?"

Naruto shook his head. He tried to lick his dry lips, but his tongue was sticky and it pulled at the dried skin, cracking it farther so that a thin trail of blood ran down his lips and onto his chin. "Orochimaru's fr-from the future too. I… I brought him back b-by mistake."

She stared at him for a moment and then said, "Tell me how to do it."  
Naruto shook his head. "Sorry," he told her and genuinely meant it.

She stepped closer to him and dropped to her knees so she could look him in the eyes. "Please," she whispered, her voice choked and her eyes glassy. "Please, with a jutsu like that, I could save my mother. I could go back and keep her out of that place or… or warn her about the people I felt coming, the ones who…"

Naruto looked down. "I…" he couldn't tell her that he didn't know how to do it, but he felt terrible seeing the distress on her face. "You wouldn't have enough chakra for it… I'm a jinchuriki and it just about took everything I had."

Karin was quiet for a moment and then said, "We could go together."

"What?"

"You took Orochimaru on accident, but you could take me on purpose. That way I could warn my mom and you could keep Orochimaru from catching you." She stood and paced almost to the door, turned around, and walked back kneeling next to him again. "Are there seals that you have to use or something?"

Naruto nodded on reflex more than because he wanted to lie to her.

"You've gone through a lot, do you remember them?"

"Yes."

Her red eyes lit up. "Show me."

"I d-don't have enough… chakra," he told her. "Orochimaru, he… he sealed off Kyuubi… I can't use the jutsu."

Karin smiled and put her hands on his shoulders. "I know," she whispered, "but this is dangerous for me. I think I can talk Hiroshi into not closing your tenketsu next time he gets sent in here, but I won't do it if you're just messing around with me."

Naruto slowly brought his hands together.

"Go slowly," Karin said before he could start, "I want to see them."

That sealed it in his mind. Hard as it was, Naruto pushed the thoughts of her being his friend away. She was just another way for Orochimaru to torture him. He'd known what she was from the beginning, but after months and months of her being the only good thing in his life, he'd tried to pretend that her friendship was real.

And yet, some weak part of him, a very _large_ weak part of him, still loved her.

But not enough to throw everything away for her lies.

Naruto looked up at her, his eyes narrowing, and said, "Get out."

Karin frowned, confused. "What?"

"You heard me, whore," he snarled with as much energy as he could muster. "L-leave before my t-tenketsu open and I rip you to shreds."

"Naruto, I…"

"You're just another one of his tricks," Naruto cut her off. It had been a long while since he really felt rage. Even longer since he'd felt any strength from that rage, but it was starting to build now. He wouldn't be breaking out of his cell with it, certainly not going toe to toe with Orochimaru, but he almost felt like some of the molasses that his body had been stuck in for the past two years was starting to give way. "I show you the jutsu, they get it on video or you remember how it goes, and then hand it right over to Orochimaru. I'm not the idiot you obviously think I am."

Karin shook her head, slowly standing. "I'm not a trick, Naruto-kun. I really am your friend… but if you don't trust me, I can understand that."

Naruto tried to stand as well. He couldn't take on Orochimaru in his current state, but perhaps he had enough strength to handle her. Karin's hand shot forward, catching him in the chest and knocking the wind from his lungs and from his sails. Without being able to use chakra, he really was as helpless as he'd seemed for the past two years.

The metal door behind them was flung open, slamming against the wall so loudly that the ringing echoed off the walls for what seemed to be several seconds as three large Sound-nin marched into the room, each tensed for trouble and looking at Naruto.

Karin leaned down and whispered, "Sorry, Naruto-kun, but if you'd attacked me I would have had to heal you all over again once they were through with you. I was just trying to protect you."

Naruto heard her, but he didn't respond. He just lay there on the dirty floor, trying to breathe and mostly failing. A few seconds later, he was chained to the wall and everyone but Juugo was gone.

Juugo who was his last companion.

Juugo who would start muttering to himself in a few minutes.

Juugo who would start asking if he could kill him in an hour.

Juugo who would try to kill him by the end of the day.

Naruto had often felt despair since waking up to find himself Orochimaru's prisoner, but never like this. There had always been thoughts of keeping Orochimaru so distracted with the promise of a time travel jutsu that he left Sasuke and all of his other friends alone. Then there had been the anticipation of the next time Karin, his only escape from the loneliness and pain of his life, would visit him. And now there was nothing. He couldn't pretend that Karin wasn't what she was anymore. He couldn't pretend that his refusal to talk would keep everyone safe because it would now have the opposite affect if Orochimaru carried through with his threat.

He wished that they'd just let Juugo finish him off.

ooo

Jiraiya walked as quickly as he could without running back to the Third's room. He didn't have a lot of time; in fact, he had almost no time at all. The only thing keeping him from running was the thought that if someone saw him, they might guess what he was planning.

Danzo would be Hokage, nothing could stop that now. Once Danzo was Hokage, Jiraiya and Tsunade would either have to become active members of Konoha's ninja corps once more or flee as missing-nin. That wasn't really as big of a deal as it sounded like, he doubted Konoha had the manpower to spare a hunter to go after them, but it would force them to leave the village and lose a lot of resources that he needed at the moment. So, before that happened, he had to take advantage of the thin window where he could still maneuver. It wouldn't be much, but it was better than nothing.

Jiraiya pulled the piece of paper from his pocket, not so much to read it – he already knew what it said – but simply so he could feel it in his hand and be assured that it was real.

Temari and her brothers had found Orochimaru's hideout. Not only had they found it, but they'd confirmed that he was there.

It didn't necessarily mean that Naruto was there, but Jiraiya was confident that Orochimaru wouldn't let Naruto out of his sight… assuming Naruto was still alive, of course.

It was his job now to get reinforcements so they could make their move.

The Kazekage's children wanted information on why their father had so suddenly turned on them and Jiraiya wanted Naruto. He wasn't sure why, but he thought that saving Naruto would give them their answers as well… certainly that was what he'd told them when they'd agreed to help each other.

If he'd become Hokage, the first thing he'd intended to do was assign a group of elite jounin to help infiltrate Orochimaru's base and bring Naruto out or at least discover what had happened to him.

Since he wasn't going to be the Hokage and the man who he strongly suspected would be Hokage wouldn't be willing to assign such a mission, Jiraiya only had one option: he had to get the Third to assign the mission before he was no longer in office.

Chances were, he wouldn't be able to get his elite team of jounin, but if he was assigned to the team instead of sitting in an office then he didn't think they'd need as many of them anyway. Given the nature of the orders and the fact that it would be coming barely before the Third was out of office – with few objective witnesses to it being assigned, no less – he couldn't afford to bring people who didn't care about the mission or who might turn back if counter-orders were issued by the new Hokage.

He needed Naruto's friends.

Jiraiya entered the building and then allowed himself to pick up more speed, hurrying towards the darkened room that already smelled of death and decay. Even as he entered the room, he was pulling out a scroll and a brush for the Third to use.

Tsunade looked up at him in surprise.

He didn't bother explaining what she could guess. If he'd been named Hokage, it would have taken longer and he'd have other things to deal with that would keep him from returning so early.

"Is he awake?" Jiraiya asked without preamble.

Tsunade shook her head. "I put him under a few minutes ago, the pain was getting to be too much."

"Can you wake him?"

"Why would I do that?"

Jiraiya handed her the message he'd received from Temari. "I'm going to need him to assign a mission."

Tsunade scanned the note quickly and then handed it back as she leaned over the Third's frail body and began forming seals. "Who did they choose?" she asked as her hands began to move over the old man's chest.

"No one officially, but it will be Danzo. He was running the meeting already, hardly anyone else even spoke."

In the dim light, he saw her throat constrict and then she leaned back and sighed. "It will take a moment for him to regain consciousness, but… this is going to hurt him a lot. It had better be worth it."

Jiraiya nodded and began writing on the paper. "While we wait, go find someone – maybe _two_ someones – not connected to us to watch him sign this."

"Why?"

"Danzo's going to call up the reserves, even the ones who are technically retired. You and I are on that list. If I can get us on a mission, we'll have a little bit of time to get Naruto and figure out our next move, but the mission will be challenged if it's just you and me that witness it being signed… hell, it'll be challenged anyway, but this might keep the others from getting into too much trouble."

To her credit, Tsunade didn't question his plan further. She knew what being called back to active duty, or refusing to accept a call back to active duty, would mean. She simply nodded and slipped out of the room to find what they needed.

Jiraiya worded the mission very carefully, not wanting to have it recalled for something as stupid as unclear objectives or some other technicality. When he reached the point where he would need to pick the names of those being assigned, he had to pause and consider who he needed and, more importantly, who he could get in such a short period of time.

Kakashi, unfortunately, was out of the village again. Had Jiraiya become Hokage, Kakashi would have been the one chosen to lead the mission. Sasuke, however, had been in the hospital and probably wouldn't be back on active duty for at least another day or two. Sakura, of course, was working in the hospital, so she was available, though there was always the chance that she had orders that would have her leaving shortly.

Jiraiya paused and reworded a part of the mission so that it took precedence over previously issued orders.

They would be moving through unknown areas, so they would need a team that was skilled at tracking and threat detection. Several such teams existed, but among ninja Naruto's age, there were only a few. Hyuuga Hinata, Jiraiya was pretty certain, was friends with Naruto. He'd never spoken with her, but she'd been among the group that had been waiting for them when he, Tsunade, and Kakashi's team had returned from the failed attempt to retrieve Naruto.

Jiraiya couldn't remember what team she was on, so he simply called it "Hyuuga Hinata's team" and hoped that it would work well enough.

Based on reputation alone, Jiraiya put down Nara Shikamaru's name next. The young man was Naruto's age and supposedly a tactical genius. Besides that, he was a Nara, and that meant his jutsu probably specialized in delaying and immobilizing enemies, which might be important should they run into trouble. He didn't know if Shikamaru was in the village, however, but if he wasn't they would just have to get by with all the other supposed geniuses in the group.

Just before he finished with the mission, a thought struck him and he included the option to pick up any other ninja deemed necessary to the completion of the mission so long as they agreed to come. He couldn't force an unnamed member to join the team, but at least he gave himself the option of trying to convince them.

Jiraiya was just finishing writing up a second copy and looking it over when he pain-filled gasp signaled the Third's awakening. He was next to his old mentor's bed in the blink of an eye.

"Sorry, old man," Jiraiya whispered, not sure how much of what he was saying could be understood, "but I need you for something important."

The Third squeezed his eyes shut against another wave of pain and then looked up at his pupil and nodded just enough for it to be clear that it was intentional. "H-hokage?"

Jiraiya shook his head. "I'm sorry, the Council turned me down."

The Third let out a slow breath. "D-danzo," he grunted. "Of… of c-course."

Jiraiya nodded.

"Y-you found… found N-naruto?"

"I did. I need you to sign assign Tsunade and I, plus a few other people, to get him back. I've already got the request written up."

The Third's whole body shuddered and Jiraiya could see his teeth press together as another bout of pain coursed through him. "Y-yes… of, of course," he whispered when it passed.

Jiraiya glanced at the door, wishing Tsunade would hurry. "We need witnesses first; this won't be something the Council smiles upon as it is." He looked back down at the Third, letting his eyes slowly drift along the old man's thin body and then carefully examining his face. He looked ancient now. Even when he was an "old man" of seventy when Jiraiya had initially returned to the village, he hadn't looked _this_ old. Two years didn't seem like enough time to go from old enough to be teased about it to old enough to look like a corpse.

It wasn't fair.

"I'm sorry that I didn't stick around," Jiraiya whispered. "I should have stayed after Minato… I should have taken the name Hokage long before this."

The Third's lips turned up slightly in what might have been a smile. "I… I am p-proud of who, who you b-became. Y-you w-would have been a, a g-good Hokage, but you w-weren't ready then."

Jiraiya nodded. The Third would never say that he was forgiven for leaving, because doing so would imply that Jiraiya needed to be forgiven, but this was close enough.

The door opened and Tsunade entered with three confused people trailing behind her. One was an older man who didn't look like he'd ever been a ninja. The second was a middle aged woman in a chuunin vest. And the third was a young boy, probably not old enough to enter the Academy yet.

Jiraiya looked at each of them and smiled, they would do nicely. It would be difficult for Danzo to accuse the boy of lying because he was young enough to still _look_ innocent all the time. The woman was a ninja whose integrity would be tough to question while keeping her on active duty. And the man was old enough to be past the age where he could be intimidated by the presence of two of the Sannin (if he even knew who they were).

"You three are here to witness the Third assigning a mission. Because we are close to getting a new Hokage, there might be some questions as to the validity of the mission. As witnesses, all you have to do is tell the Council or our new Hokage what you saw. Nothing underhanded is happening, so tell the truth." He handed them both copies of the paper, letting them each read it (the boy might not have actually been able to read, but he at least looked at the paper as though he could) and allowing them to check that the two were identical.

Once they had handed them back to him, he read the mission out loud so it couldn't be said that the Third didn't know what he was signing and then handed the papers and the brush to the Hokage. Sarutobi's hand shook considerably as he signed his name to each, but no one could deny that it was his signature.

Even if they did, five people had seen him sign it.

Jiraiya then had the three (as well as himself and Tsunade) sign one of the papers as witnesses. After that, he thanked the old man, woman, and boy and sent them on their way as he handed one of the signed papers to Tsunade while pocketing the other. "Deliver this to the Hokage's desk." He didn't need to add that he didn't want it actually given to anyone less the fight over it start before he got his team out of the village.

Tsunade nodded, but before she left, she returned to the Third's side and injected something into his arm. "This will let you sleep for a while," she told him. "I'll make sure someone is here when you wake up." Without another word, she hurried out of the room and headed toward the Hokage Tower.

Jiraiya looked down at his mentor, who was already starting to feel the affects of the drugs. "Thanks, old man. Try to be alive when I get back, huh?"

The Third smiled weakly and was asleep a second later.

Jiraiya didn't waste any time as he rushed to find the members of his new team. He had to get them gathered and out of the village before Danzo found out about the mission.

Hyuuga Hinata was the easiest to find. She was at her home, speaking to her father. The Branch Family member who went and retrieved her fro Jiraiya had been reluctant to interrupt the meeting, even for a member of the Sannin, but he hadn't required too much convincing.

Once he had Hinata – and had managed to get her to stop bowing and going through the whole polite greeting routine – it was easy to find the rest. Jiraiya had always enjoyed having a set of Hyuuga eyes on his missions, they streamlined matters considerably.

Sakura and Sasuke were found at the Ichiraku ramen bar. Shikamaru was in the village, lying down on the roof of his house staring up at the sky. His mother had greatly helped in getting him moving, Jiraiya liked her immediately… though he suspected his opinion would change if she ever got annoyed with _him_. The rest of Hinata's Team – Team Eight, she told him – were with Yuhi Kurenai at one of the training grounds. Kurenai had been confused by the fact that her team, who were supposed to be going on another scouting mission in a few days, was suddenly being reassigned, but after reading Jiraiya's copy of the mission, she didn't ask any more questions. She did offer her services, but Jiraiya had to turn her down. Taking chuunin was bad enough, taking a jounin on the mission might draw more attention to it than he could afford. If the mission was discovered before they made it out of the village, it would never happen.

It was at this point that Shikamaru got his hands on the mission sheet. Up until this point, Jiraiya hadn't told any of them what they were being assigned to do. Once he'd read it, he had a few suggestions about additional team members.

Hyuuga Neji, he thought, would be invaluable and he also suggested Akimichi Chouji.

Hinata informed them that Neji's team was on a mission and wouldn't be back for at least a week, but Chouji was eating a post-lunch snack with his father not far from the village gates.

With the last of the team assembled and Tsunade and Shizune (Tonton had been placed in the care of one of Shizune's friends) waiting for them at the gates, Jiraiya showed the guards the mission assignment and quickly got everyone out the gates.

It was not the team that he'd thought he'd be sending to help the Kazekage's children, but it was a good team – certainly the best team he could have assembled given what they were signing up for and his time constraints.

ooo

Two days later, Temari was growing impatient. They'd sent word to Jiraiya almost five days earlier. If he was going to send a team to help them, or at least show up himself, he should have done so already. She and her brothers were camped a few kilometers from Orochimaru's lair, sitting together in a large cave that Gaara had dug out of the side of a small mountain. The entrance to the cave had been covered sealed off by a small landslide that Gaara pushed back whenever they left to spy on Orochimaru or search for the promised Konoha reinforcements.

At the entrance, they'd arranged a few rocks and some bushes in a way that would probably look odd, but not very remarkable, to anyone who didn't know what they were looking for. The team from Konoha, if they showed up, would hopefully spot the sign that they'd designated as the rendezvous site in their message to Jiraiya.

"They aren't coming," she whispered, more to herself than anyone else. "Something's happened and they aren't going to help us."

Kankuro shrugged, running his fingers through his unruly red hair. "Leaf-nin are slow, what'd you expect? They've probably been on their way since they got our message, but just aren't fast enough to get here yet."

Temari glanced at Gaara, curious about his thoughts. Her younger brother didn't add anything, he simply poked the fire they were sitting around and then looked up at the hold he'd created in the ceiling that carried most of the smoke out of their temporary dwelling and up to a spot on the far side of the mountain from Orochimaru's base.

His face looked strange in the flickering light, even stranger with the black hair that he'd been sporting for the past two years. Even though she'd been the one to dye it for him and had had plenty of time to get used to it, Temari still found herself thinking of him with his natural red coloring.

From the looks of things, his roots were starting to grow out again. She'd have to see if she could talk him into letting her dye it the next time they had the chance.

"Besides," Kankuro continued, "what can we do if they don't show? Orochimaru's not some weak ninja from Iwa. We can't just storm the place without backup."

Temari knew he was right, but that didn't make it any easier to sit around waiting for reinforcements that might not ever arrive. It was dangerous for them to be in any place for too long, but extremely dangerous for them to be in _this_ place. Every day they stayed, they ran the risk of being discovered, if not by Orochimaru and his men, then by some patrolling Iwagakure team. Even though they were missing-nin, Iwa wouldn't take kindly to their presence in the Earth Country and they couldn't exactly flee back to the Wind Country to find shelter.

Suddenly, Gaara stiffened as the earth above them trembled just a little, sending a small cloud of dust into the fire. Without a word, Gaara rose and walked to the covered entrance to their cave. He held his hands in front of him, as if warming them on the rocks and dirt, and then lifted them up. A small opening appeared in front of him, not large enough to get anything through, but large enough to see out of. Keeping one hand up, he brought the other up to his left eye. Sand swirled in front of him forming into a sphere that then took the appearance of an eye.

The sand eye rose up and slipped through the hole in the wall and then almost instantly returned returning to normal sand and making its way back to his gourd.

"They're here," Gaara said. He held both hands up, the muscles in his arm straining for a second, and then dirt covering the entrance exploded outwards, carried away by the sand he'd created within it.

The three former Sand-nin stepped out into the evening light and found themselves face to face with Jiraiya and small group of younger ninja as well as a woman Temari instantly recognized as Tsunade of the Sannin.

Jiraiya hadn't let them down after all.

Just behind Tsunade, Temari spotted Nara Shikamaru, the genin who had basically defeated her in the Chuunin Exam. She let out an annoyed groan. Kankuro bumped her with his elbow, he'd seen him too.

"Shut up," she growled under her breath. It was, in her opinion, Kankuro's fault that she had lost. If he hadn't left the remains of his puppet lying around, she might not have suffered that annoying defeat – and it _was_ a defeat. Still, Shikamaru had displayed an impressive amount of intelligence during their fight, so his presence on this mission wasn't all bad, just a little annoying.

Fortunately, even if she was a bad loser, she wasn't the sort of girl would get caught up in holding a grudge for something so insignificant… well, not much of one, anyway.

Jiraiya looked up at the darkening sky and nodded. "We don't have a lot of time to plan before it gets dark, so let's not waste any of it." He sat down and motioned for the others to do the same. "Let's start with what you know about Orochimaru's base and go from there."

Temari quickly launched into her explanation. They really didn't know much, being unwilling to try to take any prisoners to find out more because they couldn't risk being found out, but they had rough guesses on how many guards were around the entrance as well as locations of possible other entrances. Everyone was well aware of the fact that they would be completely blind except for what heads-up Hinata could offer them as they did what they had to.

The plan that they came up with was relatively straight forward, it had to be. The only piece of trickery would come with getting in. Temari had carefully explored the area around the base and was relatively certain that, if they were cautious, they could make it to the back of the base, near the river, and enter from behind. There were no doorways or entrances back there that she'd been able to see, but the ground was already sandy. It wouldn't take much for Gaara to turn it completely to sand and then he could simply move it aside and let them break into the base itself.

After that, it would be up to Hinata to find Naruto within the base and guide a small group of them there while the rest held their exit and dealt with any surprises. Jiraiya was careful to make it clear that if the surprise took the shape of Orochimaru, they were to get out of his way and let him deal with his former teammate.

Despite its simplicity, it was an extremely dangerous way to go about a mission. Too much was left up in the air and there were too many ways in which it could go disastrously wrong, but they didn't have much choice in the matter at this point.

ooo

"So, it looks like it's right over there, hmm," Deidara remarked as he and Sasori stood on a hill not far from Orochimaru's base. He tipped his conical hat back and brushed aside the strips of cloth hanging from it that were used to hide the identities of Akatsuki members while they were on missions. Of course, he often pointed out to Sasori, walking next to a large, hunchbacked man who dragged so low to the ground that he actually left a small trail through the soft dirt made it sort of difficult to hide who they were. The black cloaks with the red cloud designs probably didn't help much either.

The hats did serve to keep the sun off his face, he supposed, so there were some benefits to it at least.

"I told you that's where it was," Sasori growled, not even looking up or trying to escape from his hunched over position. "Did you actually doubt me?"

Deidara chose to ignore the question as he brushed his long blond hair back from his face. "I wonder what he's like, hmm. We haven't seen him since Itachi…"

"It doesn't matter. He's got the Kyuubi and is causing us some trouble with this war. We don't have any choice but to deal with him now."

Deidara lifted a small bag from under his robe and bounced it carefully in his hand as if checking its weight.

"Will that really be enough?" Sasori asked.

"If not, master, you can always use some of those disgusting puppets of yours, hmm."

"Wouldn't _that_ be ironic, for you to be saved by something so against your tastes?"

"Maybe I'll make a couple of them explode, hmm. Then they'd be _real_ works of art!"

"Whatever," Sasori growled again. "Get going before we're spotted. This has been drawn out too long as it is."

Deidara held up his hand, a small lump of clay resting in it, and watched as the mouth on his palm greedily munched on it, chewed it thoroughly, and then spit out a small sculpture of a bird.

The bird chirped almost happily as it hopped off of his hand onto the ground and vanished into a cloud of smoke, reappearing as a larger bird which Deidara hopped onto.

He glanced over his shoulder at Sasori and smiled. "You wait here and act like one of those boring statues you think are so great, hmm. I'll be back in a moment."

Before Sasori could offer a retort, Deidara and the bird were in the air, soaring high over the hill that masked Orochimaru's base. Deidara quickly fitted a small scope to his left eye, tucking the hair that normally covered that eye behind his ear, and began to scan the area.

_'Seems like he's getting lazy, hmm,'_ he thought to himself as he counted the number of sentries watching over the entrances. _'Only five? We could have handled that many from close range and still not raised the alarm.'_

There would, of course, be others who weren't so easily spotted from above, but given the lack of cover available in the area, there couldn't be _that_ many. It seemed that the only real thing they'd need to worry about was Orochimaru himself… if that could be counted as a worry.

Deidara's hand dipped into the bag, the mouth on his palm swallowing a large lump of clay, and a few seconds later, five small birds hopped out. He smiled down at them, enjoying what he considered to be rather nice artistic lines and then watched as they leapt off his fingers and began to slowly circle towards the unsuspecting ninja below him.

The birds were small enough that they probably looked like nothing more than sparrows as they made their way down. Certainly no one would see them and think anything of it. Realism had never been his style, but from a distance, they would look close enough to realistic to be overlooked until it was too late.

Deidara adjusted his scope, checking to make sure that each of his creations was in position, and then formed the ram seal that would activate them. "Art is a bang!" he crowed happily as each bird exploded, killing the five men simultaneously.

His first objective accomplished, Deidara returned to Sasori. "We've got a clear path, hmm," he said with a grin.

The two of them began to make their way towards the hill, neither hurrying nor hesitating. As they reached the base, a figure stepped out from behind a small rock formation.

"I'm disappointed," Orochimaru told them with a smile. "I expected Pein to at least send Itachi."

Sasori remained as emotionless as ever, but Deidara couldn't help but feel a little annoyed not only by the insinuation that Itachi was somehow above him, but also by the fact that Orochimaru had apparently noticed when he took out the guards.

Orochimaru rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. "You didn't think I'd really just have five men standing out in the middle of no where waiting to be attacked, did you? I have _twenty_ men dedicated just to watching for those five to be killed."

Sasori shifted under his cloak and then said, "We've come for the Kyuubi's jinchuriki."

"Of course you have. You're a little earlier than I remember, but I knew you'd be here sooner or later for what's left of him. Unfortunately, I'm not done with him yet."

"We're also here for your head."

Orochimaru cocked his head to the side and smirked. "Still holding grudges, I see." His yellow eyes swept over Sasori's hunched body. "I never understood your desire for that body, though I can appreciate the reason you choose it. We have the same goal in that area. Unfortunately, you can't have the Kyuubi or my head."

Something shifted under Sasori's cloak and Orochimaru twisted to the side as what looked like a long tail shot out and stabbed into the rock he had been leaning against.

"Ku ku ku. How hasty," Orochimaru chuckled. "I suppose there's no way I can talk you out of this."

"You don't really think you can beat us both, do you?" Deidara asked. "Between my art and his freaky little puppet show, you don't stand a chance, hmm."

"Deidara, you little shit, are you trying to annoy me?" Sasori growled, his tail twitching in apparent agitation, though his face, partially hidden behind a dark cloth, remained the same.

Deidara glance at him and shrugged. "We just have different tastes, I suppose, hmm."

Orochimaru watched them argue, his chest shaking with suppressed mirth. "Deidara-san, you might be right about the two of you being more than I can handle…" he glanced back at the entrance to the base. "Juugo, you can kill Deidara. Sasori-san and I will settle matters on our own."

Something large and fast shot out of the entrance, rushing towards the two Akatsuki members as it strangely began to grow even bigger.

ooo

Naruto found it strange to still be relatively unchained. They'd bound his wrists and attached him to the wall, of course, but usually his arms were pinned back and he was placed in a crouched position with even his neck shackled to the floor to keep him from moving. He was too weak to take any advantage of his freedom, but he could feel his chakra slowly beginning to flow the way it was supposed to.

It wasn't something he'd felt much during the past few years.

Suddenly, the door opened, the squeaking of the metal hinges making him wince. He didn't even bother looking up to see who was coming in. Probably, it was Juugo being returned or perhaps some food was being brought in. Normally they fed him around the time that his tenketsu began to open again. There was almost always a sedative in his meal, a way of keeping up contained until Hiroshi could close the tenketsu once more.

In the beginning, he'd tried refusing to eat, hoping for a chance to get a little of his strength back, but if his plate wasn't clear with the food in his stomach after a few minutes, someone came in and used a large – probably dirty – needle on him. Plus, they took the food when they left. Since they obviously wouldn't let him go without taking the drugs and they were only too happy to le him starve himself into weakness, he started just eating the food and looking for some other way to regain the ability to use jutsu.

"Do it quick," one of the guards growled as someone shuffled into the cell. "Orochimaru-sama wants him out, now."

"Of course," Hyuuga Hiroshi's soft voice replied.

Naruto frowned and looked up. They had never sent Hiroshi in to close his tenketsu while he was still awake. At best, they would have him wait outside until Orochimaru finished playing with him and then, as Naruto hovered between consciousness and unconsciousness, they went through with it. A few times, they'd let Naruto think he was escaping and had Hiroshi standing behind him so that the first few strikes came as a surprise.

He watched carefully as Hiroshi made his way across the room and stood before him, the very picture of complete hopelessness. Hiroshi's shoulders were slumped, his eyes lowered, and his movements half-hearted.

Outside, there was shouting and the sound of footsteps racing by.

Hiroshi seemed distracted, continuously looking back at the guard waiting at the door.

Naruto had made a living spotting slim chances and exploiting them. Some had called it "guts" others had thought it "stupidity," but he'd found that if he focused all of his efforts into that one moment, he was good enough and lucky enough to get out of a lot of situations that others couldn't because they lacked the resolve to bet everything on a single, desperate, sliver of hope.

This was another such moment.

Even if he held out for another decade – which he knew he wouldn't be able to do – he doubted he'd ever have a moment where he wasn't drugged or being closely observed while Hiroshi closed his tenketsu. This moment was unique and he could either take advantage of it or wither away and die in his prison.

Naruto didn't feel hope, that was long since gone, but he felt opportunity and that was enough.

Juuken strikes that closed tenketsu required incredible precision and speed. More than that, they required certain points to be pressed that made others close easier. The first two strikes were almost always the same. One was near the middle of the chest, just to the right of the heart, where a large branching pathway of the Keirakukei was located. The other was below the lungs, right above the diaphragm where another nexus of coils existed. Pressing those two was key to the whole attack. Without them completely sealed, chakra still partially flowed within the body and the other tenketsu would open just a little bit quicker. In a fight, it wasn't quite as big of a deal if they weren't completely sealed. A partial seal, coupled with the pressing of so many other points, was more than enough to incapacitate an opponent.

When you were trying to keep a prisoner, who happened to have a rather large amount of chakra, from breaking free, however, a partial seal meant that he would regain his strength sooner than expected.

It all came down to two things: Tired and weary as Naruto was, could he dodge those first two strikes enough to keep the points from completely closing? And, would Hiroshi be too distracted to notice that he hadn't done his job.

There was also a third concern: When Naruto dodged, would the distracted Hiroshi accidentally hit some potentially vital spot that would kill him? Naruto didn't care about that one, however. He'd been in hell on Earth for the last two years; the real thing couldn't be that bad by comparison.

An unnatural focus came over Naruto as energy seemed to flow through his body. One split second, that was all he would have. One split second, in bad light, that could decide the rest of his life. One split second, in bad light, with a weak body, that could mean the difference between escape and being forced to watch his friends get killed before his eyes.

Hiroshi's hands shot forward and Naruto's moment arrived.

o

o

A/N: Sorry, this is a little late… and with something of a cliffhanger (though, come on, is it really a cliffhanger?). Bit of a busy week, but still Saturday evening is _practically_ Friday, right? I know I said Naruto would be getting out (or at least turning the handle on the cell door) in this chapter, but hopefully you can see that he's really, really close. I promise it won't be much longer. I blame Yugito for being so interesting to pit against Sasuke in the previous chapter. If I'd stuck with the boring original version of that chapter, Naruto and his friends would be sniffing the sweet aroma of freedom and/or Ichiraku ramen right now…

Originally, I was going to have Orochimaru fighting Sasori and Deidara at the same time by himself, but the more I thought about it, the less likely it seemed that even he could pull that off. Fortunately, Juugo was around to give me a bit of an out there.

For those of you who thought it might be too difficult (or too much effort) to look up Erendhyl's story that I mentioned last time, you can find it in my favorites, right at the top. I'd meant to put that in last time, but apparently forgot. Anyway, check it out, she did a great job and deserves plenty of reviews for her efforts.

Well, I think that's it. Thanks for reading and please review and let me know what you thought. Happy early Valentines Day to those of you who care about things like that… or at least have significant others who care about things like that!

Tenketsu – The "holes" from which chakra flows. There are 361 of them.

Keirakukei – The inner coil system through which chakra travels as it moves about the body.


	4. Dawn and Monsters

Chapter Three: Dawn and Monsters

o

A/N: There was a scene that was supposed to be in the last chapter (and actually was supposed to be in chapter before it prior to me rewriting it and inserting the Yugito fight) that for some reason didn't appear. I wouldn't have even noticed had Bulletdodger not asked why I didn't show Hinata's thoughts on Naruto being gone for so long. I read the review and, rather indignantly, thought "What the heck? There's a great – or good anyway – scene of Hinata reflecting on him and her mother and moving on and all that good emotional stuff! What do you mean I didn't show it?!?" Only problem, I discovered, was that no such scene exists within the chapters that I'd posted! Oops. Anyway, it doesn't change anything important that's happened so far, but if you want to read it, it is now at the very beginning of the last chapter.

o

Naruto's muscles tensed for a brief second, and then went slack as the chakra flowing through his body was cut off. With a muffled groan, he collapsed to dirty ground and lay still, watching helplessly as his gasping breaths weakly sent little clouds of dust tumbling across the floor.

Had he done it?

He wasn't sure. Certainly tenketsu had been closed, it was impossible to dodge all of the strikes with his body in its current condition. It was really a question of whether or not the initial ones had been fully sealed or not. If they had, then it might be hours before his body was fully recovered enough to try to use chakra. If they hadn't, it might only be a few minutes, maybe a half hour at most.

"Is it done?" one of the guards asked Hyuuga Hiroshi impatiently.

The dark haired man looked down at Naruto, his pale eyes reflecting the light from the doorway like twin moons. "Yes," he said softly. Naruto had never asked Neji or Hinata if a partially sealed tenketsu looked the same as a fully sealed one. Apparently the difference was slight enough that Hiroshi couldn't tell them apart when he was being hurried by the guards.

"Good," the guard grunted, "get out of here and go back to your room."

Hiroshi offered a slight bow and then shuffled out of the cell. The guard turned towards the doorway and said, "Get the syringe."

"I thought you had it," someone called back.

"Of course I don't have it! It should be right where it always is!" the guard yelled. "Orochimaru-sama wants him out, now!" He seethed for a moment and then shook his head and said, "Screw it. Just bring in the food, that'll work just as well."

A few seconds later, a bowl of slop was dropped in front of Naruto. "Eat," the guard commanded.

Naruto slowly lifted his head and with shaking hands reached out and picked it up. It would be drugged, of course. It was almost always drugged. Orochimaru was always careful when it came to keeping his favorite prisoner as weak as possible. Little food, even less rest, regular Juuken strikes, some sort of seal around the room that kept him from using a summoning jutsu, the Gogyou Fuuin on his stomach to keep him from accessing the Kyuubi's chakra… and frequent sedatives in his food to keep him either unconscious or close enough when they didn't have any immediate plans for him.

Someone ran by the cell, shouting loudly for others to follow him. Naruto glanced up and saw his guard looking towards the door, tapping his foot anxiously.

His dirty fingers slipped into the slop and lifted it towards his mouth, intentionally dribbling most of it on the ground and then shifting his leg to cover the mess.

The guard turned back to him and Naruto's next few bites had to be full ones. By the time the guard took the empty bowl and tossed it out the door, Naruto was certain that he'd actually eaten about half of the food put in front of him. A little more was stored in his mouth, but the rest had gone into his stomach where the drugs would begin to seep into his system. At best, he wouldn't be under the effects for as long as they expected him to be, but that was all he could hope for.

Of course, if they expected him to be unconscious for a few days, it would hardly help him anyway.

Three more guards entered the dark cell. Dragging him closer to the wall and fastening the shackles around him so that he was bent over, his neck chained to the ground, with his arms pulled back from his body. As they worked, Naruto noticed several more people go running past the cell, their passage marked by the quick darkening and brightening of the room even when he couldn't actually see them. The men chaining him up seemed more irritated than usual, and there was a definite sense of hurry in their movements.

Once they were done, they practically ran out of the room and Naruto heard the door lock. He waited for a few more seconds and then concentrated on gagging himself. He couldn't get his hands up to his mouth, but the metal collar around his neck helped a little. After almost a minute of work, he coughed up bile and some half-digested food. Not all of it, but hopefully enough to farther reduce the amount of drugs in his system.

Even with that out of his stomach, he could already feel the grogginess beginning to descend upon him. When he woke, if he was lucky, he might be able to break free. Even if he couldn't, there was at least a chance that when he was unshackled he would have more strength than expected… it wasn't much, but it was better than he'd had since waking up in Orochimaru's lair.

Just before the blackness took him, the thought occurred to him that even if he did escape from his cell, there was a very real possibility that whatever was causing the Sound-nin to worry so much would be only too happy to attack him as well.

ooo

"I've been looking forward to this for a long time," Sasori growled as his large, hulking form shifted under his black cloak. He dropped down until he was on all fours, preparing himself to attack.

"Funny," Orochimaru chuckled, "I haven't even thought about you in years."

The large tail whipped forward stabbing into the ground where Orochimaru had been a half second earlier.

"If you really plan on killing me, you'll have to show your true face first," Orochimaru said. "Come out of Hiruko and face me."

"Unless your new body is better than your old one," Sasori countered, "there won't be any need." He reached up and pulled the cloth that was covering Hiruko's mouth down. The jaw opened and a hail of poisoned senbon shot out of it.

Orochimaru twisted to the side and then flipped away from the deadly attack. Sasori lifted his right arm, the bottom half of which was a large bulky cylinder. The cylinder shot forward like a missile and exploded, launching still more senbon at Orochimaru while he was still in the air.

Many of the senbon struck Orochimaru in the chest. Any one of them should have been a fatal blow, but when his body landed, two hands pressed out from his mouth and opened up his head. Orochimaru pulled himself free, his body wet with what looked like saliva, but completely unharmed. His lips twisted into a smirk.

"Really, Sasori-san, don't you have anything new? You open all of your battles the same way. You need to learn some new tricks." His fingers flashed through a series of seals and then he threw his arm forward as nearly a dozen snakes shot out of his sleeve, entangling Sasori and biting down on him.

"You're one to talk," Sasori replied, completely unbothered by the snakes and their fangs. His tail slashed through the air, cutting through the bodies of the snakes with ease. "You know about Hiruko, but you still insist on attacking like—" his comment came to an instant halt as the sound of chirping reached his ears.

Orochimaru's hand was covered in blue lightning. With a casual flick of his wrist, he sent a spear of lightning across the distance between himself and Sasori, catching the puppeteer in the middle of Hiruko's head.

The large puppet cracked open and a dark shape flew out, twisting in the air and landing not far away.

"Ah, there you are, Sasori-san," Orochimaru smiled.

Sasori turned his child-like face towards the remains of Hiruko and looked at Orochimaru, his lips turning down in a frown. "That is an interesting technique you've gained," he said. "I suppose things won't be as easy as I'd expected." His brown eyes hardened and a strange smile spread across his face as the wind brushed his red hair away from his forehead. "I doubt you'll be surprised by this one either, but you've never had to face him yourself. Perhaps the experience will be enlightening for you." He reached into his cloak and pulled forth a scroll. "I would show you something new, but he's my favorite and against you, I think I might need him."

Orochimaru cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. "You'll use the Third already? I'm flattered."

"Don't be. It's simply because the thought of wasting anymore time on the likes of you is unacceptable to me."

ooo

As they circled around towards the river-side of Orochimaru's base, the ground beneath their feet shock as the sound of a loud explosion ripped through the air. None of them fell, but all of them stopped and looked as a cloud of dust or smoke rose up not that far away. Jiraiya reached into his pack and pulled out a small telescope, which he held to his eye to see what was going on.

Through the small lens it was hard to keep track of movements or make out much detail, but after a few seconds, he'd seen all he really needed to. "Shit."

"What is it?" Sasuke asked.

"Someone else is attacking the base."

"Well, that's lucky for us," Temari said. "Now we don't have to worry about putting anyone in danger to make a distraction."

"No," Jiraiya shook his head. "This is decidedly _un_lucky. It's Akatsuki. We don't know much about them, but we do know they're after the jinchuriki. If they see either Naruto _or_ Gaara, they'll join Orochimaru against us in a heartbeat. We need to hurry."

That went without saying. The group quickly turned away from the fighting and began hurrying towards the back of Orochimaru's lair. Even hurrying, they were forced to move slower than they would have liked because their large group made it that much more likely that they would be spotted. It took nearly ten minutes to work their way to the far side of the base where they had planned to enter.

Once there, Gaara placed his hands against the ground and closed his eyes. The hard dirt shifted and slowly began to change to sand. As it changed, his left hand started to make quick movements to the side, commanding the newly formed sand to rise out of the hole and spread itself across the ground beside it. The "digging" seemed slow to those who had to watch – mostly because the threat of discovery was high and the consequences immense – but any other method of quietly tunneling down so deep would have taken hours rather than minutes.

Once he was done, Jiraiya turned to Sasuke and said, "Orochimaru is up here fighting someone, so I'll stand guard at the entrance. After it's over, he might spot our hole and we'll need someone who can keep him busy while everyone else escapes."

"If you need help," Tsunade told him, "just call."

Jiraiya smiled. "If I need help, there won't be any _need_ to call."

The others scrambled down the small slope Gaara had created until they reached a wall of solid stone. Hinata stared at it carefully for a second, her Byakugan already active, and then she nodded to Sakura. Sakura smiled, as she pulled a black glove over her right hand and stepped forward. One punch was all it took.

Hinata was first through the new entrance. The other eleven followed quickly. After a few seconds, Hinata's eyes narrowed and she pointed down one of the hallways. "I-I see him," she said softly.

Gaara, Kankuro, and Tsunade were left guarding the exit; Gaara because he could defend the hole from both sides and Kankuro because he and his puppets offered multiple fighters to guard the hole (or Gaara, in a worst case scenario) at the cost of only one person leaving the group. Tsunade stayed not because of any fear that the two former Sand-nin could necessarily be overwhelmed – though if they were unlucky enough to be found by Orochimaru, she would certainly be needed – but because of an unspoken suspicion by those from Konoha that they might be walking into a trap. It wasn't a strong suspicion, but it was better to have someone from Konoha, one who all of the Leaf-nin knew probably couldn't be beaten by the two young men, near the exit to make sure nothing underhanded was going on.

Orochimaru's base seemed to be designed to confuse those who didn't know where they were going. Every few meters there was another intersection, some of the side pathways led to dead ends, others simply connected to yet another passage. Had they not had Hinata leading them, it would have taken forever to check everywhere and even longer to find their way back to Gaara and the exit.

Even with Hinata, there was a real concern that they would be flanked and ambushed from behind by someone coming out of a side passageway. Hinata could see through the walls, but if she looked farther into the base, she couldn't see what was closer to them or visa versa. Sound-nin who came from a sufficient distance and entered their path from one of the side passages they'd already passed would still be able to sneak up on them while Hinata was focusing on guiding them through the maze to Naruto.

Shizune decided to hold the first intersection as the team turned off the first path and onto one that took them deeper into the base, placing herself close enough to Tsunade that she would be able to help if Gaara or Kankuro betrayed them.

There had been a small argument about the merits of splitting up the group in such a way. They knew they couldn't afford to leave someone at every intersection, and it seemed dangerous to have one or two people standing in an intersection where they could be found and overwhelmed. Shikamaru, however, had pointed out that having a few people spread out along their line, holding areas where the party had turned, would not only protected their escape path, but also lessen the degree to which they were dependent on Hinata to get them out. If she was hurt or injured after they got all the way into the base and found Naruto's cell, they would almost certainly be lost without someone holding their turning points.

At the next intersection, Chouji volunteered to stay behind and declined Shikamaru's offer to back him up, arguing that he could hold a small passageway for a long time with his family's jutsu repertoire and that Shikamaru might be needed farther up. This passageway was also close enough to the first that if he was in real trouble, he could always call for Shizune's help. Temari took the next.

At the forth intersection, the group ran into a small team of Sound-nin who seemed to have been hurrying in the opposite direction until they spotted the intruders. The battle that resulted was quick. None of them seemed to be more than chuunin level, and they were outnumbered by the Leaf-nin. Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru remained at the intersection, which was the largest they'd seen so far, in case it proved to be a main passageway. With Kiba and Akamaru's noses as well as Shino's sentry bugs, there was almost no chance of anyone getting the drop on them.

"It's n-not much farther," Hinata said as she, Sasuke, Sakura, and Shikamaru continued on. She frowned thoughtfully and said, "M-maybe fifteen meters past the next intersection."

"Who do we leave behind there?" Shikamaru asked as they ran towards Naruto's cell.

"I'll do it," Sasuke said immediately.

"No," Sakura said as they reached the spot in question, "I'll stay. It's close enough that if Naruto needs more treatment than Hinata can give him, you can call me, but we need to move fast. We've already been in here a long time. They're going to notice soon, if they haven't already. Hinata can spot ambushes, Shikamaru can stop them, and you're the fastest and strongest of all of us. I'll stay."

Sasuke suddenly had an uncomfortable feeling of déjà vu. The words were a little different, but the idea was basically the same as the time Sakura had told him to leave her behind while he chased after Naruto when he was first kidnapped. Sakura had almost died that day… but this was a different day and Sakura wasn't the little genin she'd been back then.

He nodded, forcing his unease away and hoping that she couldn't see it on his face. "We won't be far."

Without another word or look back, he, Shikamaru, and Hinata hurried towards a metal door behind which they would, at long last, find Naruto.

ooo

Deidara knew that he was sometimes easy to annoy. It was a personality flaw, he supposed. There was a pretty long list of things that irritated him, but a big one was anything that didn't involve action and change. Things that were stagnant were boring and, thus, annoying to him.

Juugo was also annoying.

He wasn't annoying because he was so damn good, like Itachi. Nor was he annoying because he was anything like those stagnant pieces of art Sasori worshipped. He wasn't even annoying because he was too full of himself to see his own weaknesses the way certain other members of Akatsuki were. In fact, he was annoying in a way that was normally entertaining to Deidara.

Juugo was change personified. The strange markings on his body were continuously shifting, expanding and contracting as though alive. He didn't seem to plan or think about what he was doing, he was just constantly, instinctively, changing; like a force of nature almost.

Normally, the moment when an object, building, or person changed from being what they were into something different – usually something involving smaller pieces when he was the instigator of the change – was fascinating. It was art. That single fleeting moment of change… mostly explosive change… was beautiful.

Juugo was nothing but change, but he wasn't beautiful, he was annoying.

Plus, low level bombs barely seemed to faze him.

Perhaps the most irritating thing about him was that he seemed to be so insane that he couldn't appreciate the art he was a part of. That might have been it. Or maybe it was because he was strangely hard to kill, that trait of his was pretty annoying as well.

The fight had started off simply enough. Juugo had come charging out, screaming like a lunatic. One look at him had told Deidara that Juugo was a close range fighter, the sort that his art was practically made to destroy. He'd hopped onto his bird and escaped into the air, leaving his opponent to stare up at him impotently. From there, he'd simply dropped several C-1 bombs (carefully molded into perfect superflat stylized representations of different insect species) onto Juugo. Some had missed their mark, but most got close enough that the explosions should have taken the monstrous boy out.

The explosions themselves were as beautiful as ever, but the ultimate result was a disappointment.

Juugo had appeared within the cloud of smoke, singed but relatively unharmed. Several bloody stumps were initially visible on his back, chest, and shoulders, but then they melded back into him and were gone.

It was annoying that the explosions had been too large to see what Juugo had done to survive… and annoying that he'd survived at all. Explosions weren't art unless they did something appreciable. Any idiot could light a firecracker, that wasn't art. Artistry was found in using an explosion to level a building, two, or ten… in creating _real_ change.

It was more annoying that right after he'd appeared within the cloud of smoke, Juugo had thrown his arm forward and it had actually lengthened enough to force Deidara to move less he be caught. Whatever the kid's abilities were, they apparently let him change the shape of his body at will.

"You're a little better than I expected, hmm," Deidara commented as his bird swooped a little closer. "I figured you'd be dead after the first few shots. That ability of yours is kind of irritating, hmm."

Juugo responded by again trying to catch Deidara with his arm as it extended farther than seemed possible. Deidara easily guided his bird away from the first hand and then preformed an acrobatic loop to evade the second hand.

Deidara launched another small bird, this time looking for information as much as destruction.

Juugo saw it coming. His arms pulled back to their normal length and then shifted as two large roughly-rectangular extensions grew out of them.

The bird slammed into the newly formed shields and exploded.

Deidara watched expectantly as the smoke cleared. Just as he'd expected, Juugo stepped forward, the shields blown away but his body perfectly fine.

The large man threw his head back and laughed manically, his spiky strawberry blond hair dancing in the wind. "I haven't fought someone as strong as you since that copy of me, Kimimaro!"

He looked up at Deidara, his blue eyes wild, and then the dark markings began to spread once more. Soon his whole body seemed to have changed color. His pale skin became a strange grayish-brown, his hair grew longer and became a darker orange and his eyes glowed yellow. A row of small spikes sprouted along his brow and jaw line and protrusions that looked like the curved blades of axes grew out of his wrists and ran back towards his elbows.

"It's been almost a year since I've been allowed to do this!" he cried out joyously.

The back of Juugo's shirt exploded as enormous wings erupted out of his shoulder blades. He bent low and then sprang into the air, amazingly getting his massive frame up to Deidara's level.

Deidara looked at the monster with disdain. "How ugly you are, hmm. The coloring is terrible and your style is boring."

Juugo's arm shot forward once more, a presumably more deadly attack with the blade-like growths on his arms, but it was still slow in Deidara's eyes and he was plenty ready for it. He ducked under the arm and threw another volley of birds at his opponent. A second set of wings sprouted from Juugo's back as the first closed around him and hardened. The birds collided with the wings and exploded, knocking him back several meters, but it was not enough to push him down to the ground.

The bird under Deidara's feet shifted, pulling him out of harms way as Juugo's hand retracted once more.

_'So, he really can change the shape of his body at will, hmm,' _the blond thought to himself as he carefully observed Juugo's body changing once more. What was left of the wings that had taken the blast shrank back into his skin, while the new ones grew slightly larger to fully support his weight. _'That's going to be troublesome for me. He's not fast, but he's fast enough and he seems to be able to take a lot of damage. I could use C-4, but it would be a waste of my art to use it on such a low level enemy… plus Sasori would be killed as well, and then I'd really get in trouble, hmm.'_

Deidara's blue eyes focused on Juugo once more. Noting for the first time how hard the larger man was breathing and the small sheen of sweat on his face. He watched carefully for a few more seconds, just to be sure he was really seeing what he thought he was seeing, and then rolled his eyes in disgust.

"What a pathetically average weakness, hmm," he mumbled to himself. "Someone like him, with so much potential as art, really deserves to have an extravagant vulnerability, hmm. Something like one vital spot on his whole body or a special rock that weakens him when he gets too close to it. Running him into the ground is boring…" he sighed and then chuckled as he added, "but I'll get over it when I blow him up, hmm."

The great bird he was standing one flapped its wings hard, lifting him higher and higher into the air. He reached into his pouch and allowed the mouths in his palms to consume more of the clay.

He was already starting to run a little low. They hadn't planned on having to fight something like Juugo. The plan had simply been to come in, kill Orochimaru, take Naruto, and then blow the place. The assumption had been that Sasori could easily take out most of the ninja Orochimaru had gathered together and that with just one bomb Deidara would be able to handle all of the structural damage that needed doing.

Deidara felt the sculptures begin to reach their finished state and opened his hand. A small flock of birds dropped through his fingertips and then came to life, flying straight towards the waiting Juugo.

Even if they were going to have a little more trouble than expected, it shouldn't be a problem. Once Sasori killed Orochimaru, things would be fine. Deidara was certain that he had plenty of clay left to finish off Juugo and destroy the base.

"Show me your art," he whispered with glee.

ooo

Naruto woke from his drug induced slumber to the sound of metal scrapping against metal as the door to his cell was slowly pushed open. He felt sluggish and confused. Something important, vitally important, was supposed to happen now, but it was hard to remember what it was. He tried to lift his eyes to see who was entering the cell, but even filtered by his long, dirty hair, the light from the hallway was blinding.

_'Something… something… something was supposed to happen now… something I need to remember…'_

"Shit," he heard a familiar voice curse as rapid footsteps signaled the approach of whoever had opened the door.

Another set of footsteps followed the first, these more halting. He tried to turn his neck so he could look up at them, but the shackles chaining him to the ground prevented the movement and cut into his skin to remind him not to try it a second time.

"N-Naruto-kun?" a voice whispered as soft cool hands gently brushed his hair away from his face.

It was Hinata's voice.

Naruto groaned. Not this again. Didn't Orochimaru ever tire of playing this stupid game?

"Is he…?" the first voice asked again. It was familiar, but still a little different from what his brain thought it should sound like… deeper, perhaps.

"He… he's alive," Hinata replied softly.

"Good. Hold him steady while I get him free."

A second later, something hit the chain that connected his neck to the ground. Whatever it was, it caused the shackle to cut painfully into his neck for a second time and he could feel a trickle of blood run up his bowed neck almost to his chin before it dripped off onto the floor, but then he was free to sit up, or would have been if he wasn't still feeling the effects of the drugs as well as having his arms wrenched up and chained to the wall behind him.

He could, however, lift his head enough to see who they were pretending to send to rescue him this time.

Sasuke stood over him, a sword in his hands. Naruto sighed. Of course it was Sasuke.

Two quick swings of the sword and the chains holding up his arms were gone. His hands fell limply to ground and his body slumped to the side. Hinata – or the person pretending to be Hinata anyway – reached down and gently eased him up, leaning him back against the hard wall while Sasuke moved to free his legs. She seemed taller than he remembered her, more like the Hinata he'd known in the future, and her dark hair fell past her shoulders. It was a strange update for Orochimaru to make to her appearance; normally they just had her show up looking about like she had as a child.

"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata whispered, her fingers once again brushing his hair away from his face. "Naruto-kun, can you hear me?"

"Y-yes," he croaked through cracked lips. It hurt to talk. It normally did, but throwing up and then losing consciousness with bile still in his throat hadn't helped matters any.

"D-don't worry, we're going to g-get you out of here."

Naruto groaned. "I… I can hardly wait…"

Something warm and wet hit his face, causing him to slowly look up in confusion. Hinata was smiling down at him, the tears in her eyes shimmering in the light from the doorway.

She hurriedly wiped them away, her cheeks flushing in apparent embarrassment. "I… I am so glad you are safe," she whispered.

Naruto hated her for teasing him with such details in the illusion of his friend.

Sasuke's sword made quick work of the chains at his feet; then he knelt next to Naruto and asked, "Can you walk?"

Naruto did his best to scowl at him, though it was hard to be sure if he pulled it off or not. This sort of genjutsu or use of henge was almost the worst thing that they'd come up with to do to him since his captivity began. Almost. They had to know by now that it wouldn't work, it never did, but they kept at it simply to mess with his head, just to be cruel.

His hatred of them and what they were doing ignited his anger, his anger gave him energy, and energy seemed to help burn through some of the stupor that continued to surround his brain in a thick fog.

If this was genjutsu, then he had chakra once again… in fact, he closed his eyes and searched within himself, he _did_ have access to his chakra.

Slowly, the events of the few minutes before he'd been drugged began to come back to him. Hiroshi's distraction and his attempts at partially dodging the Juuken strike. The guards' impatience and the drugged food he'd done his best to avoid eating. This was it.

His _moment._

"I-I won't fall for your genjutsu," Naruto whispered.

"This isn't genjutsu," Sasuke told him. "We're really here."

Naruto chuckled, a humorless sound that seemed out of place on his bleeding lips and caused him to cough, further irritating his sore throat. "I've h-heard that before."

"N-Naruto-kun," Hinata said softly as she joined Sasuke in the cell and knelt next to Naruto. "This isn't genjutsu. We really are here."

Naruto's head rolled to the side as he looked up at her once more, and then quickly turned away. "It's not real," he whispered.

"Don't worry about it," Sasuke told Hinata. "We'll convince him after he's out of here."

Naruto began to push chakra into his weak and tired limbs, preparing to attack. Even with chakra, he wasn't sure how strong he would be. Chakra helped, but weak muscles were still weak muscles. His stamina wouldn't be there either. He'd have to wait for the right moment and then hit them with a jutsu when they least expected it. After that… well, after that he'd figure out what he was going to do _after that_.

Sasuke reached down to grab Naruto and help him up, but Hinata stopped him as she leaned in closer to Naruto and softly whispered into his ear, "Do you r-remember when you f-first talked to me after graduation? You thought th-that was genjutsu too… You thought that if you could ask s-someone you thought was an illusion something only they would know… you could figure out if what you were seeing w-was real or not."

Naruto frowned, suddenly confused. What she was describing. That _had_ happened, and not when Orochimaru could have seen it. It was impossible for him to know about that.

No, that wasn't true. With Orochimaru, anything was possible. Perhaps he'd mumbled about it in his sleep. Maybe they'd used Jigyaku no Jutsu on him and he'd repeated it for them…

Yes, it was entirely possible that he'd given up that information.

Possible, but difficult to believe. For starters, it wasn't the sort of thing that Orochimaru would ask about or even know to ask about. It also wasn't anything that he remembered telling them… since he followed a pretty strict rule of telling them nothing.

"I'm s-sorry," he whispered, trying to remain sure of himself. If they started convincing him that this was real, they might really get him to say something that he shouldn't. "You… you aren't real."

Hinata reached forward, her fingers trembling, and poked him gently in the forehead. "None of that."

Naruto's eyes widened. It was too familiar. Too _right_ for it to be a trick or maybe too right for him not to _hope_ that it wasn't a trick. He looked from Hinata to Sasuke and then shook his head, barely, a feeling of dread beginning to wash over him.

"No," he whispered in a weakly desperate voice. "No! No, you can't really be here!" If this was real – and they'd never been this good before – then it was possible that everything could be lost very quickly. "You h-have… to get out of here… b-before _he_ comes."

"We are getting out of here," Sasuke grunted, "and you're coming with us."

"No!" Naruto cried. "Now! You… you have to leave me and go!"

"I'm not leaving without you, dobe," Sasuke replied calmly.

Naruto could feel his chest ach as it heaved painfully. He couldn't breath. He no idea what a panic attack was supposed to feel like, but he was pretty certain he was having one.

If this was really Sasuke and Hinata, if they were really there… if Orochimaru found them… everything would be undone. He'd taken so much, gone through so much, resisted for so long. It couldn't be for nothing. He couldn't let Orochimaru have Sasuke again. He couldn't let him kill Hinata again. Not this time, not in this life. That future could not happen.

Naruto's hand shot up and caught Sasuke by the throat, pulling him down so that their faces were only centimeters apart. "He can't… t-take you… or it will all have b-been for… nothing."

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked. Hinata moved to help free him, but he waved her off.

Naruto's long, yellow fingernails dug into Sasuke's skin, causing a small trickle of blood to seep out of his neck and run over Naruto's fingers. It was one more proof that this was actually something that was really happening… or at least that it was either real or genjutsu, a henge would have been broken by that sort of damage.

Naruto wasn't squeezing hard enough to choke Sasuke, but the grimace on the Uchiha's face made it clear that Naruto was hurting him. Sasuke managed to turn his head enough to glance back over his shoulder to where Shikamaru was standing in the doorway waving for them to hurry up, and then tried to gently pull away. Naruto's grip tightened.

"We don't have time for this," Sasuke rasped though his constricted windpipe. "Tell me what the problem is when we have you back in Konoha."

Naruto shook his head again. It was a stupid thing to do. His eyes slipped out of focus for a moment and his head rolled lazily to the side as unconsciousness tried to take him. He was in no shape to fight anyone. Even with access to his chakra, he was still extremely weak and partially drugged on top of that. If Orochimaru showed up now, there would be no way he could even slow him down for a few seconds, let alone give Sasuke enough time to get away.

Sasuke wouldn't be strong enough to beat a member of the Sannin, not yet anyway. He was good with the potential to be great, but Orochimaru was great with the experience to make him nearly invincible except against the strongest of ninja. Itachi could possibly beat him, but Itachi had the Mangekyo Sharingan, Sasuke…

Naruto blinked, suddenly finding something to focus on. It wasn't much of a plan, but his desperation was such that any plan was good enough. "K-kill me."

Sasuke grabbed Naruto by his thin shoulders and hauled him to his feet, Naruto's hand still latched onto his throat. "We don't have time for this. Sakura and the others are waiting for us, we have to meet up with them and get out of here before we're found."

Naruto's legs buckled and he nearly fell, but before Sasuke could help support him he straightened up on his own. His dirty blond hair hung down in his face and only one blue eye could be seen peering out, reflecting the bright light from the hallway. "I-If he… takes you… ev.. everyone will die," he said so softly Sasuke almost couldn't make out his words. The lone blue eye drifted to the side briefly, but then snapped back to attention. "Am I… y-your friend?"

Sasuke tried to drag him towards the door, but Naruto pushed chakra into his feet and stood firm. "Of course!" Sasuke growled in frustration. "Let's go. The rest of your friends are waiting for you."

"Y-your _best_… friend?"

"Yes," Sasuke said as he tried again to pull Naruto along.

It was all Naruto needed to hear. In fact, he couldn't think of anything nicer to hear as last words spoken to him. Sasuke was his friend. He'd messed up over and over and over since waking up in the past, but he'd accomplished that much. Sasuke wouldn't betray him, wouldn't leave him. The only thing left was to give the only gift he could to his friend in this situation and hope that it was enough. "T-then kill me. I-If you have the… M-mangekyo Shar.. sharingan, you c-could kill him."

Sasuke's head whipped around, his eyes wide. For a long moment, he could only stare at Naruto. Then he licked his lips and said, "We don't have time for this, you're coming!"

Using his full strength, he grabbed Naruto's wrist, pulled it away from his neck, and then reached to lift Naruto onto his shoulders. Apparently he wasn't going to ask anymore.

Naruto slapped away his outstretched hand.

"Naruto-kun, please… he's right, w-we don't have time for this," Hinata said in a firm, but still quiet voice. "You aren't thinking s-straight, just let us get you out of here and we'll help you."

Naruto ignored her "Either you'll kill me… or I'll… I'll kill you," he whispered, he wasn't sure if he could follow through on the threat, but he was certain that he meant it. "I won't let him have y-you… not this time!" One way or another, he wouldn't let Orochimaru have Sasuke in this timeline. He spun low, his leg lashing out to sweep Sasuke off his feet. Sasuke was caught off guard, but not so much that he was unable to easily dodge the attack.

Naruto pushed his left hand against the floor as he continued his rotation and kicked both feet into the air, catching Sasuke under the chin and sending him crashing into the low-lying ceiling above. Sasuke landed with a thud and looked up just in time to see Naruto's blood and dirt covered fist descending towards him.

The fist froze before it ever reached its target.

"Kagemane no Jutsu – complete." Shikamaru announced calmly.

Naruto's lone visible eye glanced down at the ground where a dark shadow was connecting him to Shikamaru. "You b-bastard," he groaned, "you… you don't know what you're doing!"

"I know I'm sick of listening to you two fight like an old married couple," Shikamaru countered. "You can explain the rest when you wake up."

Before Naruto could ask what he meant, Hinata's fingers gently pressed a spot on the back of his neck. He fell forward without a sound as his body went limp

"Troublesome," Shikamaru sighed with a shake of his head as Sasuke lifted their friend onto his shoulders. Once Naruto was in place, the two sprinted down the hall towards the spot they had left Sakura standing guard.

ooo

Orochimaru had seen the Third Kazekage take out entire towns by himself… or itself, depending on how technical you wanted to get. He and Sasori had done a great many things during their partnership, both impressing the other with their abilities. Since waking up in the past, he hadn't ever really thought that there would come a point where he'd have to face his former teammate. He hadn't forgotten him, exactly, but he hadn't expected to run into him until later, if at all.

Now that he was looking into the yellow, pupil-less eyes of Sasori's favorite puppet, he knew he would need to be very careful.

In the future, Sasori had been killed by someone else. Haruno Sakura, if memory served. He'd partially hoped that Sasori would meet a similar fate this time around.

It wasn't that he feared Sasori, far from it actually, but he knew that killing his old partner would be difficult and would probably require jutsu that would cause large scale damage to the surrounding area.

He glanced to the side, catching sight of Deidara and Juugo circling each other in the air. Deidara's jutsu were also the sorts that tended to draw people's attention to places they weren't wanted. No matter what happened, Orochimaru knew he would need to change bases again.

He turned his full attention back to the Third Kazekage who was hanging in the air like a ghost. His black hair and dark cloak rustling gently in the breeze, his weird yellow eyes – which were not actually eyes anymore anyway – staring unblinkingly straight ahead. The lines in his skin, particularly the ones along his mouth and eyes, showed where Sasori had modified him and gave him a particularly unpleasant appearance.

Orochimaru chuckled. "I would have liked to have fought you when I had my Sharingan," he told Sasori. "Your jutsu would have been an interesting addition to my collection."

"You always were too obsessed with those eyes," Sasori replied. "I never understood it. If you were going to betray us, why did you go for the Sharingan? It's a powerful kekkei genkai, but there are better ones out there. There are better ones within our group even."

"You don't know how strong those eyes can become," Orochimaru said, lifting his hands and preparing for what was to come. "You won't get the chance to find out either."

The Third Kazekage shot forward, his right arm retracting slightly into his tattered cloak and then reappearing along with a large array of sickled blades. His arms opened wide, as if he were preparing to hug Orochimaru.

Orochimaru was certain that he wasn't interested in that embrace. He waited until the last second and then ducked under the blades, driving a kunai up into the joint of the right arm to immobilize it. The Kazekage simply reached down and pulled the kunai out with his left hand, completely unfazed by the attack.

Again the Kazekage swung the sickled bladed at Orochimaru who nimbly leapt back, somersaulting in the air. He landed in a crouch and then dove to the side as the puppet pointed his right arm at him and fired several of the blades as though they were missiles.

As Orochimaru rolled to his feet, the Third Kazekage ripped the tattered robe he was wearing, exposing his chest. A panel that had been inserted in the place where the living Kazekage's right pectoral muscles had been popped open revealing a thin metal nozzle.

A tiny spark was all the warning Orochimaru got before the flamethrower ignited, but it was enough.

His fingers came together, forming seals, and then he opened his mouth and spewed out a great stream of mud that instantly began to solidify into a wall in front of him. He didn't have time to make it very tall, but it was enough that the spout of flames only heated the air around him (though it was to the point where his skin began to burn) rather than hitting him directly.

Even with his protection in place, he could already see the wall of stone beginning to glow red as the Third Kazekage's flamethrower continued to bake the hastily erected wall.

Orochimaru knelt and opened his mouth. Dozens of snakes slipped out of his mouth with a wet plop. A quick series of hand seals later, the snakes slithered into the ground.

Orochimaru gave them a moment to get into position and then dashed to the side, drawing Sasori's attention and causing the Third Kazekage to give chase.

A few seconds later, the ground in front of Sasori erupted as the snakes flew out at him, opening their mouths to reveal that each had a dagger in its throat. Sasori and he knew each other well, there would be no doubt in Sasori's mind that the daggers were just as poisoned as anything he tried to hit Orochimaru with.

Sasori leapt away, but the snakes had gotten too close for him to be able to completely avoid them. As good as he was, the snakes were quicker.

But Sasori wasn't trying to avoid them, only to stall for time. In the scant seconds his actions had bought him, the Third Kazekage, was able to close the distance. The two remaining sickled blades that were sticking out of his right arm cut through the snakes as though they were made of paper.

The lifeless bodies and heads fell to the ground, twitching as a small stream of blood poured out of them onto the dry cracked earth. In a few seconds, even the blood would be dry as the ground did what it could to suck the moisture out of it.

A plan flashed through Orochimaru's mind and a smile crossed his lips as he brought his hands together, forming seals. "Suiton: Suishouha!"

The dry air around them didn't have much water within it, but the jutsu took all of it and even created some more. What followed was a rainfall that even the monsoon season in the area that was once the Whirlpool Country couldn't have matched. It only lasted for a second, but well over twenty-five centimeters of water fell during that time. The downpour was strong enough to drive even Sasori and the Third Kazekage to their knees and, more importantly, soak them completely.

Again, Orochimaru's fingers began forming seals, this time creating yet another Chidori. He didn't manipulate its shape this time, nor did he even force it to condense in around his hand the way one normally did when using the technique, there was no need in this case. Instead, the lightning danced up and down his right arm, seeming to skip along the outer folds of his shirt.

Orochimaru dropped to his knees next to the water and gently touched it, watching as the lightning surged along, towards Sasori and his puppet.

Sasori was already moving, having guessed what was coming.

The Third Kazekage was laying face down in the water, abandoned, as Sasori's finger formed seals. It might have been the first time that Orochimaru had ever seen Sasori perform a jutsu other than those he used with his puppetry.

The ground in front of him fell away, dropping the shallow lake that Orochimaru had created and the lightning it contained down into the pit as Sasori and the Third Kazekage leapt into the air.

Before they'd even landed, the Third Kazekage pushed his left arm forward. The arm opened, extended, and then opened some more. Each panel that appeared contained a summoning seal and out of each of these seals a seemingly uncountable number of arms and hands appeared.

As close as he was to the Kazekage puppet, Orochimaru had little chance to dodge the arms, and more than that, he knew what they contained. He threw himself back, twisted once, and then felt one of the hands grab hold of his left ankle. A second later, another had him by the right wrist, then by the right knee, then the right shoulder and finally by the throat. The last hand instantly squeezed down, crushing his windpipe.

Several of the arms all around him opened up, revealing that they were hollow – as he'd already known they were – and then a thick, purple gas was released from them.

Orochimaru couldn't breathe with the hand around his throat, but should he manage to pull it away, his body would want to take a breath… and then he'd be dead.

Instead, he took a kunai in his left hand, plunged it into his own stomach, and then pulled it to the side, opening himself up.

Two hands pushed through the opening in his skin and then a new body pulled itself free of the old one and wove its way like a snake through the forest of hands and arms that surrounded him.

He came out the other side traveling on a path that would take him around the Third Kazekage and give him a potential shot at Sasori. Sasori saw it, of course, and moved his puppet to block his way.

Orochimaru rose to a standing position and quietly observed the puppet and the puppet master beyond him.

The problem with fighting Sasori was that you never really got to fight him. You just fought against something he was controlling, something that you couldn't hurt him by damaging. Even if you did defeat the puppet, there were always more to be brought to bear against you and Sasori wouldn't tire nearly as quickly as you because most of his puppets had fair amounts of chakra that they drew upon when performing jutsu for him.

He had to find a way to damage Sasori directly.

The Kazekage puppet's mouth fell open and black dust poured out of it. Orochimaru had once heard a citizen of a small village he and Sasori were wiping off the map compare the sight to a god (or demon) unleashing a plague. Orochimaru had honored the man for his apt description by killing him quickly. Seeing the beginnings of Satetsu directed at him, he couldn't think of a better way to describe it.

The Third Kazekage's hand rose up and the iron dust followed suit, drifting around the puppet like a cloud of locust. With a few shifts of Sasori's fingers, the puppet began to manipulate the dust, giving it the shape of dozens of large, thick kunai.

A second later, the kunai shot forward. Orochimaru twisted to the side, his slender agile body manipulating in ways that made it seem almost boneless as he slithered around the projectiles raining down on him. He'd fought Gaara – who possessed the ability that the Third Kazekage's Satetsu was based on – so the mobility of the iron dust and the ability the puppet had to change its shape was nothing new. It _was_ a new experience to have to dodge the attacks because they were sharp, but he'd dealt with projectile weapons so many times over the long years that any novelty had long since warn off.

He slipped around the last of the kunai and the rose to his feet, and turned towards Sasori, his eyes holding a hint of challenge for his old partner. The two stared at each other for a moment, and then the kunai slowly rose into the air.

Orochimaru's mouth opened wide and a snake slithered out, its own mouth opening to reveal the handle of a sword. Orochimaru grasped the handle and pulled it free.

"The Sword of Kusanagi, huh?" Sasori noted calmly. "You really shouldn't have been complaining about me not using anything new."

Orochimaru twirled the sword expertly with his right hand. "We'll see."

Sasori's fingers shifted and the Third Kazekage's hands began to make a complex series of movements. The kunai that were been hovering in front of Orochimaru suddenly began to change. Some of them merged together, others grew longer and thinner.

Orochimaru glanced around at them and raised an eyebrow. "Forgive me for my accusation earlier. It seems you _do_ have a few tricks up your sleeve," he said with a smile as he stared at the new form the dust had taken: that of more than a dozen ornate swords and daggers, each so thin that it was obvious even the slightest touch from their edges would be enough to cut through flesh and bone.

"The Kazekage's Satetsu can take any shape," Sasori explained needlessly. "It can crush or cut, but this is the most deadly form that it takes against a single opponent. If you are going to use your sword, then I'll do the same." He blinked, the calm expression on his face disappeared into one of boredom. "Good bye, Orochimaru-san."

The blades shot forward. Orochimaru twisted away from some, blocking others with his sword. His current host body was fairly quick and flexible, but it was obviously not enough to save him from this jutsu. With the blades all around him, their movements guided by Sasori's fingers, he would be unable to shed his skin as he had earlier. Doing so was dangerous anyway, but immediately after performing the jutsu, he was vulnerable for a few seconds. In a normal fight, that was no handicap at all. Against someone like Sasori, who could attack as quickly as his fingers moved, it could be deadly. If he was damaged and had to shed his skin now, the next strike would hit him before he was completely recovered… and there would be no escape from that.

But all was certainly not lost, far from it. His eyes settled on a means of escape and a smile crossed his face as he flipped over the next pass of the swords and battered two of them away before they could reach him.

Sasori's attention was completely focused on tracking his movements and getting the swords to change direction and chase him down once more. From what Orochimaru suspected his old partner knew about him – or thought he knew anyway – this was a perfectly good strategy. Giving an opponent like Orochimaru any sort of space would allow him better access to his large jutsu repertoire or would give him the chance to escape.

Of course, he wasn't the same Orochimaru that Sasori was used to.

Sasori's hands moved back and forth, seemingly dancing about as they moved the Kazekage and the swords around. It wouldn't be long before Orochimaru would be trapped and they both could see it coming.

Suddenly, just as the swords managed to finally form a ring around Orochimaru, there was a strange whistling noise, as if something was moving quickly through the air. Sasori was too focused on the task in front of him. He was experienced enough to sense any sort of attack directed at his back so long as the person doing the attacking was back there as well, but staring at the attacker and having the attack come from a different direction was almost impossible to avoid.

Orochimaru's left hand flexed, his fingers shifting slightly, and then pulled up towards his right shoulder.

The large mask that was used as a sort of shell for the Hiruko puppet slammed into the Third Kazekage, momentarily causing the swords surrounding Orochimaru to lose their shape and allow him to slip past them, even as the bladed tail of Hiruko cut through Sasori's shoulder and about ten centimeters of his chest separating them from the rest of his body.

The puppeteer looked almost shocked, certainly as shocked as Orochimaru had ever seen him, at the sudden swing in momentum.

Taking advantage of the confusion, Orochimaru pushed chakra into the Sword of Kusanagi, activating its ability, and then thrust it at Sasori. The blade lengthened – crossing the distance between the two ninja in an instant – and stabbed right through Sasori's forehead.

The red-haired ninja's eyes widened, and then he fell backwards.

Orochimaru smiled. "Was that a new enough trick for you, Sasori-san?"

ooo

Sasuke had Naruto over one shoulder and his sword in the opposite hand as he, Hinata, and Shikamaru retraced their steps back towards the exit. Sakura joined up as soon as they reached her. Sasuke was thankful that her intersection had been completely quiet while they retrieved Naruto from his cell.

Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino were in the process of fending off a small group of Sound-nin who had run into them. From the looks of things, Shino had it well in hand before the enemy had even reached them, but the addition of three extra fighters (Sasuke had to hang back while he was carrying Naruto) finished them off quickly. They had been correct about it being a busy passageway – as evident by the small pile of bodies lying around the intersection – but all who had come by had been caught completely off guard by the ambush awaiting them. Kiba sported a small cut along his cheek and his hand had been pierced by a kunai, but other than that, they were fine.

As they continued along the way to where they'd left Chouji, the Leaf-nin came across a small group of young ninja – probably not much older than they were. Sasuke's Sharingan had activated as soon as Hinata called out the warning about them and by the time he reached them, even carrying Naruto, he was moving at near full speed. His sword slashed back and forth and he passed through the last of the group before the first even fell.

No one stopped to look at the bodies as they hurried along the dark passageway.

Chouji's intersection had apparently been quiet and he joined the group with little more than a nod to Shikamaru.

It was just as they neared the spot where they had left Temari that Hinata suddenly gasped and came to a halt, her eyes staring down a small side passage. With only a slight distracted motion of her hand that alerted the others in the part to stop, she stepped into the passage and located a locked door a few meters down.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked, handing Naruto to Chouji.

"There's a… a Hyuuga behind this door," she told him, her voice confused.

Sasuke hadn't worked with Hinata all that much since the war broke out, but he'd seen her in action enough to know that she didn't make mistakes about things like this. If she said something was there, it was there.

His sword flashed through the air, cutting the hinges off the door, and then he gave it a hard kick, knocking it into the room. Stepping inside, he found a tall man with long black hair sitting on the floor, his arms resting on his knees and his head bowed. At the crashing of the door, the man looked up, his pale eyes holding neither surprise nor fear as he beheld those standing over him.

"I've never seen you before," he noted with a dejected frown. "Am I finally going to die or does Orochimaru-sama have something else that he's going to make me do?"

"Who are you?" Sasuke demanded. He looked for any shackles or chains that might be holding the Hyuuga in place, but could find none.

The man's eyes traveled from Sasuke to Hinata and only then did they widen. "Hinata-sama," he whispered as he turned back to Sasuke. "You're from Konoha."

Sasuke started to repeat his question, but Hinata cut him off. "His n-name is Hyuuga Hiroshi," she told him. "We thought he'd been k-killed in battle over a year ago."

Hiroshi's shoulders slumped. "Only a year… it felt so much longer."

"Alright, whatever," Sasuke said reaching down and pulling Hiroshi to his feet. "Can you run?"

Hiroshi nodded.

"Then come on. We're getting out of here. If you don't want to stay, you better get moving."

Hiroshi shook his head. "No, we can't leave yet. There's someone else from Konoha here. Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto. I don't know what—"

"We're way ahead of you," Sasuke said with a smile as he turned towards the door. "He's the one we came for."

Hiroshi breathed a sigh of relief and seemed to come a little more alive at this news as he followed Hinata and Sasuke back the main group. When he caught sight of Naruto, he sucked in a sharp breathe and quickly turned his eyes away from the sight. Hinata looked at him curiously, but there was no time to ask about his reaction as their escape began anew.

The area around Temari had almost completely been destroyed and her fan was already pulled back to unleash a torrent of wind at them when she realized who they were.

"Trouble?" Shikamaru asked.

Temari flashed him a feral grin as she joined up with the group. "Not for me."

Shikamaru stared at her for a moment as they ran and then shook his head. "What a scary woman… she's as bad as mom," he muttered under his breath.

Temari shot him a reproachful glare, but didn't respond.

A few meters farther down the passage, Hinata again pulled to a stop. "An ambush," she whispered.

The Sound-nin, somehow knowing that they'd been spotted, dashed out of their hiding spots up ahead of the rescue party. Sasuke was only too happy to run forward to meet them as well. His sword cut through two before the third finally managed to block his initial strike. Before either could move to attack the other, Sakura's fist slammed into the head of the Sound-nin, driving him into the hard stone wall.

Three more came at them, Sasuke and Sakura turned to meet them, but before they could attack, a large white blur sped past them followed by a darker blur. One of the men cried out as Akamaru's fangs sank into his leg and then was silenced by a kunai from Kiba. A second went down in a similar fashion, but the third toppled over seemingly on his own until his back was revealed to be covered in dark insects. The bugs rose up in a small swarm and quickly made their way to Shino and into the sleeves of his outstretched arms.

Kiba looked at his teammate and rolled his eyes. "He just can't let us have too much fun, can he Akamaru?"

The large dog gave a happy bark and then turned towards the direction the ninja had come from as one final person stepped into view.

Her red hair was long and carefully combed on one side and short and unkempt on the other. She reached up and adjusted her thick rimmed glasses and said, "I cannot let you take Naruto-kun. Orochimaru-sama needs him."

Sasuke's free hand closed into a tight fist. "Try to stop us."

Her eyes shifted towards him and her cheeks colored briefly. "If you put him down, you can leave. We don't have any problems with you even though you've broken in and killed some of our men. Please, just put him down and leave."

Three more ninja, two men and one woman, appeared behind her. One of them men was tall, his dark hair standing almost straight up. The other was a little shorter, but also seemed hunched over; his whole face was almost completely covered in bandages. The woman was short and beautiful, her dark hair hanging down to her waist.

"Karin, you should have called us as soon as you felt them," the bandaged one admonished the red-haired girl. "Orochimaru-sama will be displeased with how much trouble they caused because you weren't quicker."

Karin didn't look back at him. "I'll say it again, hand Naruto-kun over and you can leave."

Sasuke's red eyes flashed as he lifted his sword, blood from the last person it had cut through still dripping from its keen edge. "I made a promise that I've been preparing to fulfill for a while. If you think the four of you are going to stop me, then you obviously have no idea who I am."

Even as he said that, his eyes were carefully examining each of them. It was true that they had no idea who he was, but he also had no idea who they were. He'd fought Sound-nin before when he and Sakura were trying to save Naruto the first time. If these four had abilities like those others had had, things could get complicated. Making matters worse, in the somewhat narrow passageway his team's numerical advantage was somewhat negated. And to top it all off, they couldn't afford to do any damage that might collapse the passageway and prevent them from returning to the exit Gaara and the others were guarding.

There was really only one option at the moment… but it was a good one.

Sasuke lowered his sword and let his eyes drift from one face to the next, carefully looking each of them in the eye.

To each of them, he seemed to disappear in an instant, reappearing in front of them and slashing them through the chest. Their eyes widened, Karin fell to her knees. The other three didn't give in quite so easily. They brought their hands up to perform a jutsu or perhaps even to just try to stop the river of blood running out of them.

Sasuke's sword was faster, cutting through their wrists so quickly the blood seemed to hesitate before rushing out of the grisly wounds. A quick spin and his sword racked down across their backs, dropping each of them into a growing pool of their own blood.

Sasuke let out a slow breath and deactivated his Sharingan to save energy. It didn't take much more chakra than regular genjutsu, but casting it with his eyes was still taxing. The four – perfectly whole – Sound-nin lay on the floor immobilized. To everyone else, it looked like Sasuke had knocked them to the ground simply by looking at them… which, in a sense, he had.

"Come on," he said as he began to continue on towards their exit. "We don't have a lot of time."

When he reached Karin, he paused and looked down at her. She groaned and opened her eyes, already coming out of the jutsu. He frowned, she was recovering quicker than he'd expected. The other three didn't seem to be conscious, but for some reason she was already moving.

How unfortunate for her.

He lifted his sword until the tip was pointed directly at the back of her neck. It would be a clean and painless death.

"S-stop"

Sasuke looked up in surprise.

Naruto was still on Chouji's back, his arms hanging limply over the large ninja's shoulders, but his head was raised just enough to make eye contact with Sasuke.

"Please…" he whispered. "Please d-don't hurt her…"

Sasuke looked down at Karin as she lifted her head and gave it a little shake. Then he looked back up at Naruto whose eyes were half-closed, his breathing irregular. It was hard to say if Naruto was even fully conscious or just dreaming with his eyes open.

Half a second passed and then he let out a sigh. Leaning over, Sasuke whispered into Karin's ear, "The only reason you're still alive, is because Naruto asked for you to be spared. If it was anyone but him, I might have killed you anyway. I won't be so generous a second time. Do yourself a favor, don't appear in front of me again."

His hand came down hard on the back of her head and she lay still. He looked at the other three, whom he'd also planned on killing, and shook his head. They didn't have time to move from one to the next only to have Naruto beg for their _enemies_ to be left alive each time. They were unconscious, that was good enough for he and his team to escape and that was what really mattered.

The rest of the trip was almost too easy. They met up with Shizune and then continued on to the entrance Gaara had created for them. Kankuro's spider-shaped puppet was out and several bodies were lying at its feet while others lay crumpled against cracked walls.

No explanations were needed for what had happened. All that mattered was getting out at that point.

As soon as they were all through the hole in the wall, Sakura turned back, her fingers forming seals. She pressed her hands against the ground and said, "Doton: Iwayado Kuzushi."

Large cracks formed along the ground, up the walls, and across the ceiling of the area around their exit. A second later, the passageway collapsed, blocking off any chance of them being followed by someone inside the base.

Jiraiya was waiting for them at the top of the hole. His eyes caught sight of Naruto and a smile briefly crossed his lips. "Okay, let's get out of here."

ooo

Deidara could smell his victory. Juugo had been slow from the onset of the fight, but now dodging his attacks with his morphing hands had become child's play. His monstrous opponent was visibly winded and his wings no longer held him in the air as easily as they once had.

It was time to finish things.

Another bird bomb was formed and sent flying at Juugo. For a moment, it looked like he didn't even have the energy to escape, but at the last second he twisted to the side, taking the explosion on his left wing.

No new wings grew to replace the old and the scorch marks on his face and arms showed that he hadn't be able to shield himself the way he previously could.

Juugo flapped his remaining wing a few times, but couldn't keep himself in the air any longer. He crashed to the ground and the markings and transformations on his body faded away, leaving him nothing more than a large boy.

Somewhere in the distance, the sounds of a flute could be heard.

A spider hopped out of Deidara's palm and leapt down towards Juugo. The blond smiled and lifted his arms into the air and said, "My. Art. Wins!"

Something long and white flashed across the path of the insect bomb, but didn't slow its flight. Deidara frowned, suddenly uneasy. A second later, his unease was upheld as the spider hit Juugo in the chest and shattered, but did not explode.

Deidara's eyes instantly tracked towards the object. It was a strange tubular cloud with mouths covering its body. The way it moved as it angled back towards him gave Deidara the impression that the worm – for that's what it looked like – was actually alive. His eyes traced its length back towards its origin, turning him around just in time to see another one coming at him.

His bird twisted in the air, barely getting him out of harm's way though the second worm passed right through the bird's wing.

Suddenly, he was no longer flying.

Deidara glanced down just long enough to confirm that the bird's wing was now nothing more than hardened clay. He let out a soft curse and tried to pull its nose up a bit so he could at least glide to the ground rather than simply falling. His eyes quickly located the source of the worms, three immense monsters standing in front of a red haired woman with a flute to her lips.

He was just starting to plot how he would deal with this new annoyance when he heard the twang of a crossbow. It was all the warning he got before a hail of arrows filled the air in front of him.

He reached down and grabbed the disabled wing, ripping it free from his creation and held it up like a shield as the arrows slammed into it.

"Seems like my lucks not so great today, hmm," he grumbled to himself as his free hand dipped into his clay pouch. He only had a few seconds before he plowed into the ground and things got really bad, but he thought it might be enough.

The mouth in his palm chewed faster than he'd ever had it chew before, and then spit out a small owl which vanished into a cloud of smoke and reappeared as a much larger bird. It wasn't as big as the one he was riding now, nor was it as artistically sculpted, but it would get him away, and that was what counted.

Now that he knew what the worms could do, he couldn't risk staying close to the base that the woman was standing atop. Her strange jutsu was something that countered his art, or at least made it harder for him to attack. Were they alone, he was certain he could get around her monsters, but with however many of Orochimaru's ninja helping her, there really wasn't much he could do…

Other than level the place, of course.

Deidara reached into his bag and frowned. "I didn't think I'd need this, hmm. Guess it's a good thing that I brought it along." He pulled a small, roughly egg shaped object out and looked down at it fondly. "#7… you aren't that big, but you're more than enough for this job, hmm."

He pushed a little bit of chakra into the bomb to activate it, and two wings on either side opened up. With an almost casual toss over his shoulder, he sent it on its way.

The woman apparently saw it coming, because her worms instantly started in that direction. Deidara scowled. He'd expected it, but it was annoying to waste such beautiful art without getting the full affect.

Still, one couldn't complain too much.

He waited until the last possible moment, and then detonated the bomb. It wasn't on the ground when it happened, so the destruction was somewhat minimized, but the shockwave from the blast was enough to send his little owl tumbling through the air and to level many of the large rock formations in the area.

He hoped some of them fell on the annoying woman and Juugo.

ooo

Orochimaru was close enough to the explosion that he was hit by the shockwave at almost the same moment as he heard the sound. The force of the blast was such that he – along with a great many things – was picked up and thrown through the air. It was only by pure luck that he was able to rotate his body around fast enough to get his feet under him when he hit the ground again. The moment he landed, chakra surged into his feet, gluing him momentarily to the dirt as his fingers came together. Two angled walls of rock rose up in front of him, creating a wedge that channeled the air and debris away.

The shockwave only lasted a few seconds, but for it to have had such force behind it, he knew that the explosion must have been massive.

When it was over, the rocks fell away from him and he turned back towards the spot where Sasori had been. He was gone. Frowning, Orochimaru scanned the area, searching for at least some fragments of the Third Kazekage puppet, but those two appeared to be gone.

It seemed unlikely that such a thing had been blown completely away by the blast without even a scrap of evidence, but he would still send a party out to search for it later.

He looked up and spotted what looked like a large white owl flying east, a dark object standing on top of it.

Orochimaru was a little disgusted to find that not only was Deidara alive, but he apparently hadn't even been forced to take off his black cloak. He remembered something of Deidara, both from keeping tabs on Akatsuki and from the vague memories that had been stored in Sasuke's brain when he'd taken over, but having never met him, he wasn't sure how good he really was. What he did know was that Deidara was a long range expert who specialized in explosions. As such, he hadn't really expected Juugo to survive, much less win, but he'd assumed that the boy would at least be able to keep Deidara distracted and perhaps injure or wear him down so that when he was finished with Sasori, he wouldn't have any trouble handling Deidara as well.

Juugo was, after all, nothing if not resilient.

Apparently not resilient enough, however.

Had Deidara taken Sasori's body with him? It was possible, he supposed. Akatsuki's members were all interesting specimens, each with a nearly unique ability. Obviously they wouldn't want to leave behind bodies for him to dissect and learn secrets from.

The apparent disappearance of the Third Kazekage puppet bothered him, however.

Those thoughts quickly disappeared as a messenger ran out to him. "Uzumaki Naruto is gone," the man told him, panting.

Orochimaru's hand tightened into a fist and the messenger quailed as the killer intent rolled off of him.

_'Was it a trick from the beginning?'_ he wondered. _'They don't usually sneak around like that…'_

"Does anyone know how this happened?" he demanded.

"No," the man replied. "We found many dead inside the base and Karin, Dosu, Kin, and Zaku incapacitated. It looked like they'd been under a powerful genjutsu…"

Orochimaru's teeth ground together. "Itachi."

He waved the man away and looked down at his hands, noticing a slight tremor running through them. He was tired and using his rebirth techniques had no doubt sped up the decay of this body. It was an unsuitable host. If they had sent someone other than Sasori after him, things possibly could have gone very badly for him. Certainly he was in no condition to fight Itachi at the moment. He needed a stronger body.

The logical step was to get the one that he'd enjoyed the most in the past, but that would be foolish in the current environment. Not only would Sasuke be far weaker than he had been after Orochimaru had trained him, but according to Tayuya's report when she brought him Naruto, Sasuke was also much more loyal to Konoha and his friends.

A willing convert always worked better, especially when their eyes were as strong as Sasuke's and Itachi's. To get his hands on either of those Sharingan, he would probably have to go through a considerable amount of trouble, perhaps even being forced to once again reside in Sasuke's subconscious for a while until the boy was weak enough to be subdued.

Itachi's body was worthless as well. He remembered their final fight, when he'd finally gained control of Sasuke, and what he'd noticed during it. Going from a weak body to a sick one was of no benefit. He needed someone whose abilities were powerful, but lacked the Sharingan's ability to manipulate situations. He would have Sasuke, eventually, but for now he wanted a different body.

A strange idea struck him and a smile crossed his lips. _'Wouldn't that be ironic?'_ He looked at the messenger and asked. "Is Juugo still alive?"

"Yes, but only just barely."

"Get him back in his cell and have Karin heal him. Then spread the word that we will be moving soon."

"Of course, Orochimaru-sama."

"And tell Karin that when she's done with Juugo, we'll be going on a special trip."

ooo

They'd been lucky to be in the water when the explosion went off. All of them had known that as soon as it was discovered that Naruto was gone and the alert went out, that they would be tracked. The obvious solution to that problem was to enter the river, and follow it down stream for a ways to cover their tracks.

They'd just passed by the second hill in the cluster of four that Orochimaru's base was situated near when they heard the explosion. They'd been far enough away and alert enough to see the shockwave coming. Diving underwater helped them escape the worst of it.

Jiraiya thought that it was actually a very helpful thing. Not only did it mean that Orochimaru had bigger problems to deal with, but the shockwave had probably done a good job of covering their tracks and blowing away their scent, further preventing them from being followed… hopefully.

Not that they would take any chances, of course.

They followed the stream for nearly an hour, exited on the far side, doing their best to partially cover their tracks, and even laying a few traps, and then Gaara carefully lifted each of them with his sand and brought them back to the stream so they could walk a little farther. It wasn't perfect, but with the chaos that was no doubt left after the attack by Akatsuki and the explosion that had followed, it would be enough to throw off most trackers long enough for them to completely disappear.

About the only thing that could possibly make their efforts to throw off their followers any better would be a sudden rain storm. Unfortunately, the Earth Country wasn't known for its rain and the cloudless sky seemed to indicate that the weather wasn't going to change anytime soon.

Still, they'd accomplished their mission, and no one had died, that was all that could be asked for, at least in the eyes of the Leaf-nin.

Temari, Gaara, and Kankuro still hadn't discovered if there was a connection between Orochimaru and their father turning on them. They'd hoped to take a prisoner along the way, but none had presented themselves that seemed more informed than others. Probably anyone with that sort of information wasn't going to be easy to find – if they even existed – anyway, but it would have been nice. They did, however, get to talk with Hiroshi about what he knew of Orochimaru's plans. His information was scant, but from what little he did know, it seemed that Orochimaru was probably planning several sides against each other. If that was the case, then it wasn't hard to deduce that Orochimaru had done something to cause their father to believe that his children were in some sort of conspiracy (probably setting up the ambush as well) and that the reason behind it was meant to weaken or destabilize Suna.

That night, they made their camp in a small wooded area, carefully covering their tracks as they entered and placing traps all around. Naruto was sleeping, or unconscious (it was hard to tell the difference), throughout most of their escape. Somehow he'd managed to drift off in the cold river and didn't wake afterwards.

Sakura and Tsunade had carefully checked his injuries and vital signs. They both felt that he would need some time to recover – as if that wasn't obvious just from looking at him – but there didn't seem to be anything permanently wrong with him physically. In fact, while there was evidence of repeated and horrific trauma, most of it seemed to have been carefully healed.

Jiraiya was thankful for that. He wasn't sure what he would have done if after all this time, he'd ended up finding Naruto's body dumped in some mass grave somewhere as just another piece of trash Orochimaru had thrown out.

Shizune and Kankuro took the first watch while everyone else was allowed to finally relax, but Jiraiya couldn't sleep. Instead, he'd seated himself next to Naruto's prone form, watching over the boy as he slept under the small mountain of blankets that had been placed on top of him.

Very carefully, he pulled a small bundle from his backpack and set it on Naruto's legs for him to find when he woke. Then he leaned back against a tree and looked up into the sky.

How long he stared at the stars was a mystery. No one came to tell him it was his shift, so it was less than four hours, but beyond that he couldn't say. The only thing that caused him to look down was a soft moan from Naruto as the blond shifted under the blankets.

Jiraiya sat up and watched as Naruto slowly opened his eyes, blinking in confusion as he noticed the stars overhead.

A few seconds later, his head shifted so he could look down his body and his hands slipped out from under the blanket and brushed against the bundle Jiraiya had set on him.

"Did I get the right one?" Jiraiya asked softly as Naruto sucked in a deep breath when he realized what he was touching. "Black sleeves, and a black stripe running along the zipper, with orange panels on either side, right?"

"It… it looks just like… the one you gave me the first time," Naruto whispered. It was hard to tell in the dark, but Jiraiya thought he could see tears in the thin boy's eyes.

"Well, don't get all weepy about it," he chuckled, wiping the underneath of his nose as he tried to look nonchalant about the whole thing. "I came across it completely by accident and just happened to have a little extra money on hand. Actually, it's so ugly the woman selling it practically gave it to me; I didn't even have to try to talk her down or anything."

Naruto ran his fingers along the jacket a second time and then pulled them back sharply. "Is… is this r-real?" he whispered suspiciously.

Jiraiya frowned for a moment and then nodded his head. "Yes, it's real."

"If… y-you're lying to me… about this… I'll kill you." Naruto's voice was so weak that in a different situation the threat would have been comical. "There w-won't be enough of you left for… for Karin to rescue you."

Jiraiya smiled and stood up, walking slowly towards Naruto. "As if you could, little brat. Have you forgotten who I am? I'm the Gallant Jiraiya, Toad Sennin from the Holy Mount Myobokuzan! I make babies smile and women weak in the knees!"

"Probably because… th-they're laughing so hard at you…"

Jiraiya flicked Naruto in the forehead, just hard enough to sting, but not so hard that the boy wouldn't know that it was meant to be a sign of affection. "Show some respect, you little turd; I've gone through a lot of trouble because of you."

Naruto showed his respect by falling asleep again.

o

o

A/N: Sigh. I think I could have done better with Deidara and Sasori's characters… and I'm not sure that the fights were that great. Really, I think I need to start watching the anime again. There's something about hearing a person's voice that helps my write their character. Since I've never heard Deidara or Sasori's (or Juugo's, though he hasn't shown up in the anime yet) voices, I felt a little lost with them. Plus, Deidara fighting against a melee fighter really doesn't lend itself to "cool" fights… actually, Deidara's fighting style doesn't lend itself to written fights period. Visually it can be cool, but I just don't think it works as well in print. Well, whatever. Hopefully the fights weren't too terrible. My heart really wasn't in those scenes during this chapter, so if you didn't like them, I won't be terribly surprised.

EDIT: After a few reviews about this, I thought I'd just make it real clear. Sasori isn't dead. I really do research these characters before writing about them. I am well aware of what Sasori's body is, where his vulnerable spot is, and pretty much everything else one can learn about him from reading the manga chapters in which he appears. The scene in question is from Orochimaru's point of view and Orochimaru thinks Sasori is dead. This is because 1) I doubt a missing-nin goes around telling everyone that there's only one way to kill him and here's what it is and 2) Orochimaru wasn't there for Sasori's demise in canon, so he never got a chance to discover that one weak spot Sasori had. As far as he knew, most of Sasori's body was still human and, thus, a sword to the brain should have killed him. You know and I know that he's still alive - and you'll notice that Orochimaru seems to find it fishy that he can't find any remains - but that's because we can read the manga/watch the anime and we know all about him. So, no more reviews about that, okay? ;)

Anyway, I apologize for the lateness. I was a bit of a procrastinator these last two weeks (though there were some distracting family things that needed dealing with as well, so it wasn't _total_ procrastination) and didn't really get working on it until Friday morning. I must say, however, that after trying to upload this all day Monday and again on Tuesday, I now blame the whole delay on the website , since I couldn't log in because of a "technical glitch" (though it did allow me the time needed to add some more to Orochimaru's fight, improving it significately, I think)! Yay! I'm off the hook! My art wins! (I think I like this Deidara quote even better than "Art is a bang!")

So, Naruto is _finally_ safe and somewhat sound. No more complaining. I mean it! ;) Next few chapters should be nice, character develop-y types, so hopefully they'll be easier to write and get out on time. Please review and let me know what you thought.

Jigyaku no Jutsu – "Time Reversal Technique" a jutsu that puts the target in a state of reverse hypnosis. They remember and recount details that they otherwise would not. An ANBU squad used this on Naruto during one of the filler arcs.

Kagemane no Jutsu – "Shadow Imitation Technique" The Nara clans' signature jutsu.

Doton: Iwayado Kuzushi – "Earth Release: Rock Lodging Destruction" Rocks fall from above. I'm pretty certain this was used against Team Minato towards the end of the Kakashi Gaiden. Also seemed like a good way to block off an exit if a ninja didn't want to be followed.

Suiton: Suishouha – "Water Release: Water Shockwave" Used by the Second Hokage during his brief appearance. A large amount of water comes out of nowhere and can be directed at the targeted area."

Satetsu – "Iron Sand." The Third Kazekage's special jutsu. Very similar to Gaara's sand based jutsu - the Kazekage actually modled his jutsu off of the abilities of the One-tail hosts) only with iron dust that has magnetic properties.


	5. Waking From A Long Terrible Dream

Chapter 4: Waking From A Long Terrible Dream

o

A/N: Fair warning, the second scene is a flashback to torture that I didn't have in the earlier chapters because I felt like it would make them more graphic and disturbing than I wanted them to be. It is probably the most disturbing scene that I've ever written. The real warning is that the scene involves the murders of young children, so if you don't want to read that, just read until the torture starts, then skip to the last paragraph or two and you'll get the gist without all the details. Anyway, I felt like it was a good scene – as far as torture goes – but for some it might be too much.

o

Orochimaru, Juugo, and Karin walked as silent as wraiths through the darkness as they made their way towards the destination that Orochimaru had picked out. Juugo had been very reluctant to leave the safety of the base, where he could at least be partially controlled when the bloodlust took him, but Orochimaru had smiled and asked if Juugo really thought he couldn't be controlled when one of the Sannin was with him.

Karin understood why she was going, even if she didn't exactly know the particulars. For the moment, their destination didn't require her abilities, but eventually they would probably be looking for someone who was hard to find.

Anytime Orochimaru needed to find someone very quickly, he tended to enlist her. She'd been the one to tell him where to find both Rin and Tsunade, though by the time the assassin reached Tsunade's initial location, she'd already moved on. Still, Karin had gotten him on the right trail far faster than he would have if he'd had to find her all on his own.

She had a suspicion that she was also being watched by Orochimaru. She had, after all, not sounded the alarm as soon as she felt the intruders enter the base when they came to steal Naruto.

Her description of the person who had cast the genjutsu on her had interested him, though all she'd really told him was that he had dark hair and red eyes. The real question had been: who took Naruto? So her answer wasn't entirely truthful. She'd meant to tell the truth, but he'd been so obviously obsessed with the first description that she'd not mentioned any of the others nor expanded upon it at all.

It disturbed her to realize that this was the first time she'd ever held back from telling Orochimaru the whole truth. It was even worse that she had chosen to do so about an event that was obviously extremely important to his plans…

But she wasn't even tempted to offer up the truth now that she'd withheld information from him.

For one thing, he'd probably kill her for such treason and Karin wasn't suicidal. If he did let her go on living, it would only be because he needed her for something. The moment that ended, she would be killed without a second thought.

For another, if his plans were even remotely like what she thought they might be after Naruto had briefly mentioned the jutsu to her, she had her own plans to think about.

And, perhaps, there was a little part of her that didn't want Naruto found too quickly after everything that they'd done to him. Not a lot, but a little. Very little.

As they made their way through the mountains and across the dry cracked earth that made up so much of the Earth Country on their way to the Northern Sea, Karin's thoughts turned to why she didn't want Naruto found too quickly.

She'd never had a problem with keeping or even torturing other prisoners, but Naruto had been the first she'd been forced to interact with on a near daily basis. She'd had to pretend to stand up for him when he was being used for sport by the guards. She'd had to help him eat sometimes. She'd had to pretend to care. And, perhaps most importantly, she'd had to heal him over and over. Healing people using her abilities was a very intimate thing. There was a very _pleasant_ physical reaction within her body whenever she did it. Naruto was the first to ever be healed more than just once or twice. Perhaps that was why she felt a tiny attachment to him after so long.

They say that the best lies are based on a little kernel of truth and this one was no exception. She would have handed over whatever information she got out of him – right there in his cell, no less – without a second thought or worry over what such a betrayal would do to him… but she did care for him….

A little.

ooo

_Naruto's hands and feet were bound tightly to the table that was sitting at a slight angle, keeping almost all of his weight on the bindings. The metal clamps were sharp and cut into his dirty skin like knives. He could feel a trickle of blood running down his naked forearms almost all the way to his elbows before it reached a point where it began dripping down onto his biceps. The pain wasn't too bad, but the feeling of blood slowly rolling down his arms was irritating. He wanted desperately to wipe it away, but trying only caused the shackles to cut into him more._

_Instead he concentrated on staring into the darkness around him, trying to pick out shapes along the walls. The room seemed similar (as similar as a room he couldn't see could be) to the one he'd woken in when he first came to Orochimaru's lair, but he couldn't even be sure that he was in the same base anymore. A light shone brightly overhead, but only illuminated the area immediately around him._

_"Send them in."_

_Naruto could hear the sound of a door opening and then feet shuffling and stumbling along the floor as they slowly moved towards him. Soon a short man with a balding head and dirty clothes stepped into the light. Behind him a frightened woman with a plump belly and two children, a boy who was probably close to ten or eleven and a girl who couldn't have been much older than five, were huddled together. The little girl was crying softly, the boy's lips were quivering, but he was trying to be brave._

_Orochimaru stepped into the light as well and looked down at Naruto, a smirk on his face as he said, "I know that you've received training in resisting torture. No doubt you think you can hold out forever against a 'pro,' so we're going to take a different route today."_

_He nodded towards the family and said, "This man and his family aren't ninja. They aren't anyone. Just a simple farmer and his simple family living their simple lives until fate intervened. Had certain events in the future not happened, they probably would have lived rich, full, boring lives, making babies, growing old, dying peacefully in their sleep surrounded by loved ones." He reached behind his back and pulled out a small knife and handed it to the man. The farmer was so scared that he could barely hold onto it. _

_Orochimaru smiled and said, "If you get this boy to tell me what I want to know, I'll let you go free and you'll never see me again. If you don't… I'll kill your family members one by one until only you are left, and then I'll kill you. Do you understand?"_

_"Y-yes," the man whispered, looking down at the knife and then at Naruto._

_"I'll give you two minutes. One for your kids and another for your wife, if you want everyone to go home, I wouldn't take longer than fifty-nine seconds… and you've already lost eight of them… nine… ten…"_

_The farmer's eyes widened and he ran to Naruto, grabbing him roughly by the shoulders. "Tell him what he wants to know!"_

_Naruto closed his eyes, unable to bring himself to look at the man as he whispered, "I can't."_

_"Twenty seconds down…"_

_"Please! My… my wife and children, please! Just tell him!"_

_Naruto looked at Orochimaru. "Don't do this! They didn't do anything!"_

_"Orochimaru shrugged. "Of course they didn't, and you can still save them if you want to. Thirty seconds gone. Who should we kill first?"_

_"TELL HIM!!!"_

_Naruto shook his head and then screamed as the knife was buried in his shoulder._

_"Please!" the man begged as he pulled the knife out, "If you don't tell him he's going to kill them! Please…" he slammed the knife into Naruto's bicep and then removed it, "please…" this time the knife hit Naruto in the side of the chest, scraping along the underneath of one of his ribs, probably chipping off pieces of the bone while it sliced through his flesh._

_"Fifty-five… fifty-six…"_

_The begging was frantic now, as was that stabbing. Nothing vital, the farmer wasn't quite so hysterical as to damage Naruto in a way that would keep him from giving the answer, but he was getting close._

_"Fifty-eight… fifty-nine… sixty…"_

_A ninja stepped out of the shadows and slit the little girl's throat. She made just a loud enough cry to draw the farmer's attention so he could watch her fall to the ground. His eyes widened as he looked down at her for a moment and his whole body seemed to sag. The knife fell from his limp fingers and he just stood there staring dumbly as his son was killed a second later. Then the farmer turned and threw up next to the table Naruto was on. Naruto wanted to join him._

_The sound of retching seemed to go on and on, but finally it slowed and then stopped. The farmer picked the knife up off the floor and stood over Naruto, his face and clothing covered in bile. "Tell him what you know," he said in a strangely detached voice, his eyes were burning with hatred – not for Orochimaru, but for Naruto._

_"It's been one minute and forty-two seconds," Orochimaru announced. "Your wife wants you to hurry."_

_"Tell him!"_

_"I-I'm so sorry," Naruto whispered through the pain. "I ca—" His words were drowned out by his own screams as the man took the knife and began slowly peeling a thick slice of skin away from Naruto's chest._

_"Gods! Tell him now!" the man screamed. "Tell him or I'll kill you!"_

_Naruto wished that he would. The pain was horrible, but he could take that. It was what was coming next that he didn't want to see._

_"Two minutes are over," Orochimaru announced calmly. He nodded to the ninja and the farmer's wife fell to the ground, her neck snapped._

_The poor farmer screamed like a wild animal and lifted the knife over Naruto's head, ready to drive it down on the blond and finish him off. His eyes were no longer human; they were orbs of pure, unbridled hatred. His lips pulled back in a snarl, and then relaxed as blood dribbled from his mouth and splashed down on Naruto's face. The farmer slumped forward, revealing the kunai in the back of his head, and then fell to the ground._

_"Ku ku ku," Orochimaru chuckled as he looked down at Naruto and smiled almost fondly. A thin finger ran along Naruto's blood-splattered face. "You're far more coldhearted than I gave you credit for, Naruto-kun. I'm impressed."_

ooo

Naruto woke up screaming. More than half of those in the camp had heard him scream at some point. At the Academy, injuries to younger students often resulted in screaming and crying, children were just like that. Fingers were occasionally broken, cuts were regular occurrences once they were allowed to start working with kunai, and the first couple of jutsu went badly for almost everyone (and sometimes for their neighbor as well). Naruto had been hurt as often as any of them, perhaps more so because of his clumsy nature, so his screams weren't terribly new to any of them.

But they'd never heard Naruto scream like this.

It wasn't a scream of pain or frustration or anger or anything like that.

Naruto was screaming in terror, complete, unadulterated terror.

Sakura was awake and at his side instantly, Tsunade and Jiraiya right behind her. The remaining members of the team were disciplined enough to turn their attention towards checking for enemies who might have been attracted to the noise that seemed all the louder in the stillness of the night. Those who could manage it – particularly two Hyuuga who could simultaneously be looking at Naruto even as they watched the woods for any sign of trouble – tried to also catch what was going on with their friend.

"Shhh, Naruto, it's okay," Sakura whispered, one hand on his heaving chest, the other rubbing against his forehead, trying to calm him. "It was a dream, you're safe now…"

He flinched away from her touch and his hand lashed out to strike her, but moved so pitifully slow and with so little power behind it that she only batted it away out of pure habit, not because he could have hurt her.

After only a few seconds, his screams quieted into soft whimpers, though his breathing continued in quick, hard gasps.

Sakura continued to make quiet soothing noises as her hands instinctively began to check him over. His heart was pounding, which wasn't surprising, but she couldn't find any physical injuries. She hadn't expected to, but it was nice to confirm it nonetheless.

Given what he'd gone through, the reason for the screaming, or the nightmare that had caused it anyway, was pretty obvious. The reason for his physical weakness had been easily deduced as well. Even malnourished and exhausted as he was, Sakura felt certain that he would have been stronger were it not for the drugs Tsunade had discovered in his system. Some sort of sleep-inducing agent had been injected into, or ingested by, him relatively recently.

They'd searched the surrounding area for herbs that could be used to neutralize the drug as carefully as they'd dared given that there might be trackers after them, but the Earth Country's vegetation left much to be desired. Even when they began to reach the edges of the more forested areas of the continent, they weren't able to find anything that would work well enough to risk introducing still more drugs into Naruto's weakened body.

Sakura glanced up at Tsunade and shook her head, answering her sensei's unasked question. Tsunade accepted this with a barely visible nod, and turned back towards her bedroll, giving Jiraiya a firm push towards his own as well.

As Naruto's breathing slowly came under control and his heartbeat began to return to normal, Sakura shifted her hands from Naruto's chest up to the long, tangled mess that was his hair, brushing it away from his face and gently running her fingertips along his scalp in the way her mother often had to her when she was little. She'd always found the tingling sensation the touch created to be relaxing and hoped that Naruto would as well.

Once they'd gotten far enough away from Orochimaru's base without any apparent pursuers (though neither Jiraiya nor Sasuke would allow them to take any chances by slowing down or not carefully covering their tracks), she'd allowed herself to relax and start worrying about less important things. The first one she'd picked up on was the hair she was not running her fingers along. It needed to be washed and at least trimmed up, if not cut way down. Naruto didn't really look like himself with a dirty mess of hair that hung down in his face.

They couldn't really clean his hair until they got back to Konoha, of course. The dirt, grime, and what she suspected was dried blood had been in his hair for a long, long time. It would take more than just a little sand and some water to clean it.

No doubt Ino would have something that would work really well for that sort of job; she had the largest collection of hair and body care products that Sakura had ever seen. She'd often wished that she could get Anko to see Ino's bathroom. Then, maybe, her sometimes-sensei would lighten up on her about the _comparatively_ few she had in her bathroom.

Naruto stared up at her. His blue eyes half-closed again, but his face seemed confused. She'd heard from Sasuke and Hinata that Naruto hadn't believed they were real when they came to save him… which might have explained the dark bruise on Sasuke's face that he refused to talk about. (It also seemed to send Shikamaru into a strange coughing fit whenever the subject was broached.)

It wasn't too hard to guess why her blond teammate would have such questions, but Hiroshi confirmed that Orochimaru often used genjutsu to try to get Naruto to tell some secret.

Sakura couldn't even begin to guess what secret Naruto could possibly have that Orochimaru would want – or that was so important Naruto would go through all this just to keep it – but, from the way he had stiffened when he heard the story, Jiraiya apparently had a guess.

"Sa-sakura-chan?" Naruto whispered.

"It's okay, I'm here… we all are," she said as she smiled down at him. "You're safe."

He shook his head limply and a shiver went through his body. "No… n-not even remotely."

Sakura glanced around and saw that all of those who weren't on watch duty had gone back to where they'd been sleeping, though few of them seemed to be trying to get back to sleep yet. Some, like Hinata and Sasuke were watching her and Naruto, while others, like Shikamaru and Chouji, were talking quietly with each other. Temari, Shino, and Kiba were back in the surrounding trees as they went about their sentry duties. Tsunade was back in her bed, trying to get some rest, while Jiraiya was sitting on his, watching silently.

"It was just a bad dream," she whispered to Naruto soothingly.

The pupils of his eyes expanded and his eyes drifted to the side, looking over her shoulder and staring off into nothingness. "Ev-everything is."

Sakura reached down and gripped his chin, turning his head until his eyes were back on her. She didn't want him to miss what she was saying. "Not this. This is real."

He tried to smile at her or at least she chose to believe that was what he was trying to do. It was possible that his stomach was upset and he was just trying not to throw up on her, but an attempted smile sounded better.

She watched him for a moment, once again noting how thin his face (and body, for that matter) was and the haunted look in his sunken unfocused eyes. It was heart wrenching to see Naruto look so _un_Naruto-ish. The boy she remembered him being had been the personification of light and energy. It seemed impossible for him to be the broken down teenager in front of her.

She'd studied more than enough to know that it would be a while before Naruto could be back to that same person whose jokes had often been as inappropriate and embarrassing as they were funny. The boy she'd often hit when he said something without thinking through how she might take it or who embarrassed her in front of Sasuke.

During the first few months, she'd thought a lot about those times and how much she missed them. It had been strange to realize that the times he seemed to irritate her the most, the times she'd hit him and not felt even remotely sorry for it later, were the times that she cherished – and regretted – the most. Not only had she regretted ever hitting him during those silly moments, but she wished that she could go back to them, back to when things were simple and Naruto was in her life.

And now he was back, but those overlooked moments could not come back with him, not for a while anyway.

"I missed you," she told him with a soft smile and was pleased to see his eyes focus on her face once more.

"You… you look like the… the Sakura-chan I remember," he told her with a strange look in his eyes.

Sakura chuckled, "I'm not nearly angry enough or violent enough at the moment to look like the Sakura-chan you remember."

He shook his head again. "The… the S-sakura-chan I re-remember wasn't like that… much…"

Her smile widened just a bit. "Then maybe I hit you too hard one of those times because it's obviously affected your memory…"

He lifted his right hand, the one he'd earlier tried to hit her with, and clumsily tried to touch her cheek, coming closer to punching her than to gently rubbing his hand against her skin as he seemed to be trying to do. "That's not the Sakura-chan I remember…" he whispered again, his voice trailing off as sleep began to slowly take him.

Sakura smiled and placed her own hand over his, pinning it to her warm cheek for a moment even after he lost the strength to hold it there. "It's good to have you back," she told him as he closed his eyes.

ooo

Gaara wasn't the sort who was very good at being a lookout. He could do it, of course, it was just hard to worry about it since the sands would protect him instantly without him even seeing the danger coming. Before the final round of the Chuunin Exam, that was enough for him. He would be protected, he would survive, so nothing else mattered. The sands wouldn't protect his siblings without his conscious will, however, so after the Exams, when they'd all unexpectedly become missing-nin, he'd had to rededicate himself to some of the skills he'd previously ignored out of indifference.

It was very hard to remember to keep it up at the moment.

Gaara was aware of the fact that he didn't really know Uzumaki Naruto all that well, but what he did know and what he could see in the faces of Naruto's friends told him that the screaming that had woken most of them (though not Gaara) was not something they'd ever seen before.

Really, he could have guessed it on his own. All he'd wanted during the Chuunin Exam was to scare (and kill) Naruto, but he hadn't managed it once. Anyone who could so easily smile in the face of the sort of danger that was the result of piquing Gaara's interest and then annoying him, couldn't possibly be the sort who routinely felt the level of terror that Naruto must have been feeling when he woke.

Gaara knew that he wasn't normal. He hadn't grown up normal. He hadn't been born normal. There was simply nothing normal about him as near as he could tell. He'd been fine with that for years, still was, in fact. He wasn't a normal person, so he didn't really care too much about acting like one or knowing what such a thing meant. He was, however, a person very similar to Uzumaki Naruto and he did want to know what was normal for _him._

Naruto was a jinchuriki just like him. Naruto was someone who knew his pain, but took a different path.

Naruto was his friend, his first friend… maybe his only friend.

Gaara cared for Temari and Kankuro, of course, but they were siblings and he wasn't sure they counted as friends. He liked to think that they were his friends, but it was still different somehow. If nothing else, the fact that he still occasionally (though it was rare now) saw the old fear in their eyes told him that they probably didn't consider him their friend… and friendship had to be mutual, that much he knew.

So he watched Naruto, to see what was normal for him. Naruto had pulled him out of the darkness; his normal had to be a good normal. At least, Gaara thought that it must. Everyone seemed to like Naruto, whether he was normal or not. During their journey away from Orochimaru's base, Sakura, Hinata, Sasuke, and Jiraiya had all stayed close to him as he was carried on Chouji's back. He never said anything to them, his body drugged and his mind probably struggling to deal with the new situation, but that didn't seem to matter.

Gaara had flirted briefly with the idea of joining them in speaking briefly to him, but had ruthlessly squashed the idea. He had no idea what he was supposed say to a friend who had gone through something terrible for so long.

_"Sorry you were tortured for two years, I hope you feel better"_ just didn't seem adequate… but what else was there to say?

Perhaps it didn't matter. He couldn't hear what the others were saying to him, but he couldn't imagine that all of them were able to come up with something better than his own lame outline of the conversation. From the looks of things, the words didn't even really matter. They just wanted to make sure that he knew they were there.

It was a strange realization. Naruto had friends that just wanted to make sure that he didn't feel alone. Gaara knew that Naruto had felt true loneliness before, but he wondered if the others knew that about Naruto. It wasn't the sort of pain that Gaara had ever wanted to talk to anyone about, but for all their similarities, he and Naruto were different. Perhaps that was why his friends did what they did, because they didn't want him to feel that pain anymore.

Somehow, Gaara didn't think that was it. In his observations of Naruto, he'd noticed one thing that seemed abnormal… or at least more abnormal than someone like them being able to have such strong bonds to _normal_ people.

Naruto didn't share his troubles with his friends.

He wasn't sure when he'd seen it, but at some point during the Exam Gaara had realized that the others had no idea how much of a threat he really was to Naruto. They knew he wanted to kill him, of course, but they didn't know any more than that. Naruto didn't tell them that Gaara was a monster. He probably didn't even tell them that Gaara had tried to kill him several times. They'd been protective of him as soon as his life really was in danger during the finals, they would have been more so prior to it had they known that Gaara had tried to kill him twice before that.

He'd briefly toyed with the idea that they simply knew how strong Naruto was, but he knew that wasn't the case. They'd been far too surprised during Naruto's other matches to have possibly been able to guess his level of strength before their match in the finals.

No, Naruto did not let the others see his troubles or his pain. The loneliness that he'd felt, the loneliness that Naruto had seemed to understand so easily, that was something that Gaara and Naruto shared alone. The others didn't know about it, or at least didn't know the extent to which they had suffered in it. It was something that united the two of them, something that – in a way – made them friends. They understood each other when no one else could.

More than that, however, was the fact that Naruto had offered Gaara a hand and pulled him (somewhat kicking and screaming) out of the darkness. Gaara had initially been annoyed by the friendship that Naruto had thrust upon him, but now it was like a life preserver keeping him afloat in dark and murky waters.

Gaara slowly rose and crossed the camp site until he was standing over his friend.

Sakura turned and looked up at him, her eyes slightly suspicious. Gaara ignored her completely as he stared down at the blond.

Naruto's eyes were closed.

Gaara heard the faint scratching sound of metal sliding against wood and glanced over his shoulder to see Sasuke watching him carefully, his hand on his sword hilt.

Ignoring the threat, Gaara knelt next to the skeletal frame of Naruto and watched him for a moment, not quite sure what he was supposed to do or say. He knew what he _wanted_ to say, but it seemed strange to say it to someone who couldn't hear him.

He took a deep breath and whispered, "Thank you." He paused, searching for the right words even though Naruto couldn't hear them. "You have a lot of friends, so maybe this doesn't matter to you… but I consider you my friend…"

His voice trailed off as he tried to think of something else he wanted to say, but nothing came to mind. He supposed it didn't matter. He'd said what he needed to and it was kind of nice to speak those words. Actually, it was _really_ nice to speak those words in a situation where Naruto wasn't awake and Gaara could just slip away quietly without having to endure Naruto's reaction – whatever that reaction might be. He was dimly aware of Sakura staring at him, but he was good at pretending that he was alone and this was no exception.

He supposed it didn't speak too highly of his people skills that the person he considered to be his best friend was someone he hadn't seen in two years (not to mention that he'd been trying to kill Naruto back then) and that he now found it easier to talk to that friend while he was unconscious so he didn't have to worry about his friend actually hearing anything he said…

Perhaps someday he'd have to work on that a little bit.

ooo

"It will still be several days before we've amassed enough men to actually attack Konoha directly," a withered old man with beady eyes and almost reddish skin told the assembly. He pulled a pipe from his mouth and played with it absentmindedly as he scratched at his chin. "When that happens, we will need Kirabi-sama and Yugito to lead the attack."

One of the few women at the table nodded slowly. "I agree. Konoha is a large village, it would be impossible to lay siege to it. We have neither the supplies nor the manpower at this point. Crushing them on their home turf will make it still more difficult. Without the jinchuriki, I don't think we could pull it off."

There were other nods and murmurs of agreement around the room and then the largest person stood. He was massive, easily towering over all of the rest. Even seated he was taller than many of them. He pinched at his yellow mustache and began to walk around the table. "I don't like it," he told the group.

Over the years, they'd grown used to his mercurial mood swings, so rather than argue with him, they all waited for him to offer something else. Disagreeing with the Raikage wasn't necessarily a quick way to die (though it could be), but it was a quick way to get a man who could snap you in half like a twig very, very angry. That was something they all wanted to avoid.

"If we send Bee into the fight, we will lose our protection here," the Raikage explained. "Already there are reports that Iwa has nearly finished off Suna. If they are so close to completing their war, they might have started to move some of their forces east already. Sending Bee to the front lines would leave us open to the Tsuchikage's treachery."

"We don't know that Iwagakure would do such a thing," one of the group pointed out. The Raikage rounded on him, his face suddenly enraged as his hands slammed down on the stone table with such force that the edge where they hit broke off and crashed to the ground.

"…But it's better to be safe than sorry!" the poor man quickly agreed.

"Bee stays," the Raikage growled. "Yugito is powerful enough to swing the tide in our favor." He paused, stroking his mustache again, and then added, "But send Samui's team to help her. With them at her side, along with that other thing that Orochimaru mentioned, there won't be any problems."

"Can he really do such a thing?" the woman asked apprehensively.

"He's one of the Sannin," another Council member replied as if that answered her question.

"His claim about the Third Hokage came true," another mentioned, "but I don't like this. If he can do this to them, what's to stop him from doing it to us as well?"

"It doesn't matter for the moment," the Raikage said, looking down at his massive arms and the weights strapped to them. "All that matters is finishing off Konoha so we can secure the Fire Country and then prepare to deal with Iwa. If Orochimaru can do what he says, our victory will be easy. If he can't, we'll still win."

The Council members didn't all agree, but they knew better than to say so. With Kirabi and Yugito fighting Konoha, the battle would have been all but guaranteed to be a victory even without Orochimaru's promise. With only Yugito, things would be harder, but a decisive victory was still easily possible, perhaps even likely.

Besides, so long as Orochimaru could deliver what he'd claimed he could, there really was no need to worry.

ooo

After Gaara said his piece and then wandered back to the other side of camp, Sakura had done her best not to stare at him. It was still hard for her to reconcile the frightening Gaara of the Chuunin Exam with this _slightly_ less frightening version. It seemed that Naruto's efforts to win the terrifying boy over had succeeded, though why he'd wanted to was beyond her.

To take her mind off that puzzle, she sat and watched Naruto sleep for the better part of two hours. The rush of adrenaline that had surged through her system when Naruto woke screaming and then again when Gaara had wandered over to them to speak with him, coupled with the fact that she'd been one of the ones allowed to sleep during the first watch, left her far too awake to ever make it back to sleep soon enough for it to do her any good before it was time for her watch.

Besides, after two years, a part of her was irrationally afraid that if she took her eyes off of him, he might disappear. She and Sasuke had gone through too much for too long to take such a chance… silly though it might be.

As the time for her shift arrived, she heard the sound of soft footsteps on the ground behind her. Sakura glanced over her shoulder and found Hinata looking down at Naruto. The Hyuuga heiress knelt quietly next to Sakura and whispered, "H-how is he, Sakura-san?"

Sakura smiled. "Okay, I think. It was just a nightmare before. I don't even want to imagine what they did to him, but at least part of it seems to have involved not letting him sleep much, his body is exhausted."

Hinata nodded and looked back at Naruto. Her body gave a small twitch as if she were consciously holding herself back from reaching out to touch him, but in the end she remained still, simply watching him as Sakura was. After a few minutes of silence, Naruto mumbled something incoherent, jerked his head violently to the side, and then drew in a pained, shuttering breath and didn't let it out.

"One, two, three," Sakura started whispering. At fifteen, Naruto finally let the breath out and seemed to relax. Sakura glanced at Hinata and found that she was looking a little pale. "Don't worry about it," she said with a smile, "he's been doing that every once in a while since he fell asleep. The first two times it happened I thought he was dying. I actually checked his pulse, just to make sure. Now I just count; if I get to twenty, I check him again, but it usually doesn't last that long."

Hinata frowned. "M-more bad dreams?"

Sakura shrugged. "Probably. He seems to have a bit of sleep apnea… I don't remember him doing that before, but it's been a long time since I slept with Naru—"

Sakura clamped her mouth shut instantly, her eyes widening at her choice of wording. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hinata stiffen.

"Uh…" she chuckled awkwardly, "_No_, not like that, that was… I mean, I'd never… with him, you know… well, not that there's anything wrong with him, I just… uh…" Sakura took a deep breath and then groaned. "Can I stop now?"

Hinata looked relieved. "Please."

Sakura still felt awkward about the way she'd said it, even more awkward because of who she was talking to and how Hinata felt – or used to feel anyway – about Naruto. Still, the farther away from those words she got, the funnier it became. Soon, she couldn't help but laugh quietly at herself. "Sorry, I meant the last time I was around Naruto while he was sleeping… and I was dressed and no where near him… I don't remember him holding his breath like that, but I wasn't really paying attention, so I could be wrong."

Hinata, her face a little red, nodded and they went back to watching Naruto in silence. After about ten minutes, she said, "It is your t-turn to take watch, but… if you'd like, I can take your shift s-so you can get some rest or keep watching Naruto-kun."

Sakura smiled at Hinata's kindness, but shook her head. "He doesn't really need me watching him right now; I can't help him with his dreams anyway. Besides," she added with a grin and a conspiratorial wink, "you probably want to be here more than I do."

Even in the dark, Sakura could see Hinata's face flush crimson. "I… I…"

She was saved by another set of footfalls approaching them. Both turned and found Hyuuga Hiroshi standing above them, his face so pale that it was actually difficult to even see his eyes. "Forgive me, Hinata-sama," he said with a respectful bow, "but I could not help overhearing. If you would like, both you and Sakura-san may stay, I will take your place in the next watch."

"Hiroshi-san, you don't have to do that," Sakura told him. "After what you and Naruto have been through, I'm sure this trip has worn you out. You should just rest, I don't mind taking my own shift."

Hiroshi looked uncomfortable, his feet shuffling slightly across the cool forest floor. "I… I am not tired. Naruto-san went through far worse than me. I was…" his voice trailed off and for a moment it seemed like he wasn't going to say anything more, but then he said, "I would be honored to take your shift. Please allow me to at least do this small thing for you. Besides, my eyes are good for this sort of job. It would be nice to use them properly again."

Sakura shrugged. "If it means that much to you, then thanks."

Hiroshi bowed once more and then made his way to the edge of camp.

Sakura and Hinata watched him go and then turned back to Naruto as he took another breath and didn't let it out.

Both of them began to count.

ooo

Sasori was in a foul mood all the way back to the cave. Not only was he damaged, but he'd been beaten by Orochimaru… though he didn't say as much. Instead, he blamed Deidara for taking him away from the battle – and causing such a mess – just before he'd had a chance to kill Orochimaru.

Deidara thought that was a little unfair, and said so.

It wasn't, after all, his fault that stabbing Sasori through the head didn't kill him. No one had ever bothered to tell _him_ about something like that. He'd thought that sort of thing was something that only one of the "Zombie Twins" could handle. Apparently there was a third Zombie Twin (triplet?) that he was unaware of.

Sasori didn't even thank him for thinking ahead enough to grab the Third Kazekage's body before leaving.

"Are you going to tell me how you survived that, hmm?" he asked as they neared their destination.

Sasori was already starting to work on his destroyed arm with a small toolset that he'd summoned out of a small scroll. The mark on his forehead, where Orochimaru's sword had pierced him, was covered by a strip of cloth that he'd pulled from his torn pants. "No."

"Collaboration breeds stronger art, Sasori no Danna. Are you sure you won't tell me, hmm?"

"If you don't let it go, I'll probably kill you," Sasori growled, his red hair blowing in the wind and his eyes narrowed as he focused on his work.

Deidara rolled his eyes and considered flipping the owl they were riding on upside down so his partner would lose all of his tools. It was a childish thing to consider, but it was also very tempting. If Sasori weren't an artist, albeit one whose art form was static and boring, Deidara might have given in to the temptation.

The rest of the trip went by in silence, with only the howl of the wind and the sounds of Sasori's work breaking it.

They arrived and entered to find themselves the last to arrive.

Deidara's eyes swept around the room quickly, pausing briefly on Itachi and narrowing in distaste before continuing on until they met the six rings of the Rinnegan.

"You came back empty handed," Pein noted with a touch of irritation.

"Orochimaru is stronger than he was before," Sasori growled.

"They kind of look like they got their asses kicked." **"Stop being stupid."**

Deidara scowled at the tall man who looked like he was as much plant as human. "We can go back and get the Kyuubi, hmm. It wasn't like we couldn't have won. There were just…" he glanced sideways at Sasori and then finished, "_complications_."

Pein was as calm as ever. "It doesn't matter. Our finances are close enough to ready that we can begin our plan. You all know your assignments. Most of the jinchuriki have been scattered because of the wars, but they shouldn't be difficult to find. Our sources say that at least one of them, the Nibi, will be at Konoha within the next week or so, as Kumo tries to win the war. The Yonbi and the Gobi will be approaching Suna with the rest of the Iwagakure ninja."

His eyes shifted to Itachi's specter form. "You and Kakuzu will be switching assignments. Kisame already has to be in the area for the Yonbi, you will capture the Gobi. We had to wait until the end to seal the Kyuubi, anyway, you might as well do something useful while we wait."

Itachi replied with a slight nod.

Pein's eyes met each of those standing in the cave and then he said. "The time has come to stop worrying about hiding our presence. We will act swiftly and accomplish our ambition before anyone realizes what is happening."

A second later, most of those in the cave vanished, leaving only Kisame, Itachi, Deidara, and Sasori. Deidara looked down at Sasori and then over at Itachi as the Uchiha turned towards the entrance, his cloak swirling about him as he ran a hand through his dark hair.

"Try not to die, hmm," Deidara called after him, not adding that the only reason he didn't want Itachi to die was because he was hoping to kill him himself.

Itachi didn't reply, he rarely did. Deidara scowled after him, hating him even more than he had before he walked into the cave. Anyone who thought they were that cool needed to be blown up, in Deidara's opinion.

ooo

Hinata and Sakura woke early the next morning, neither sure when exactly they'd fallen asleep. Both were sore from having slept directly on the ground, but surprisingly someone had given each of them a blanket so at least they weren't cold.

Sakura held hers up to her nose, inhaled deeply and then smiled as her eyes drifted towards Sasuke who was conveniently packing his bag with his back to them. With a small wink at Hinata, Sakura rose, brushed a few dried leaves from the blanket and then folded it and carried it to him. Sasuke accepted the blanket without comment, making an obvious effort to keep his eyes on his bag as he pushed his blanket into it.

It was at that moment that Hinata felt someone's eyes upon her and turned to find Naruto sitting up and watching. He wasn't exactly smiling – or, if he was, he was doing a very poor job of it – but his eyes seemed somewhat clearer than they had been. If nothing else, it was nice to see him actually looking like he was aware of what was going on around him.

"Hinata-chan," he said softly, "it's good to see you again."

Hinata silently thanked her clan for the training she'd received that allowed her to keep her emotions in check. She wasn't so good at it as to keep tears from rising in her eyes, but at least she didn't do anything as embarrassing as forgetting herself and tackling him in the fierce hug she wanted to give him.

"N-Naruto-kun," she whispered, swallowing hard. "I'm g-glad you are awake."

This time his grin was a little more obvious, as if he was slowly remembering how to do it. Even then, it didn't reach his haunted eyes. "I think the drugs are out of my system," he told her. His voice sounded hoarse, probably due to his throat having gone without enough water for so long.

Hinata quickly retrieved a flask of water for him. He drank greedily, tipping the container up until water was running down the sides of his mouth and dripping onto the mountain of blankets still piled on him. His thirst was such that even when his body demanded that he begin breathing again, he didn't stop drinking and ended up inhaling water. The coughing fit that followed shook his whole body, but even before it had completely subsided, he was drinking once more.

Finally, he set the flask aside, panting for breath, and then looked at her carefully. "This really is real, isn't it?" he asked.

Hinata nodded. "Very real."

"How long was I…" his eyes narrowed, sweeping over her face. "You grew out your hair."

Hinata felt her face flush and unconsciously tucked a long strand behind her ear. "Yes."

Naruto nodded slowly, his eyes shifting back and forth as he ran through memories. He looked back up at her and frowned once more. "You're fifteen, then? Or was it sixteen?"

It was a peculiar way of judging time, but she supposed it would tell him how long he'd been gone. "F-fifteen… for a f-few months now. You've been gone for two years."

Naruto took the news surprisingly well. His eyes slowly drifted around the camp, pausing briefly on Sakura and Sasuke who were still next to Sasuke's bag. They hadn't noticed that Naruto was awake yet.

Hinata took the opportunity that came with him looking around and asked, "H-how are you feeling?"

He turned back to her and shrugged. "I'm fine. No big deal."

Hinata thought that it probably was a big deal, a _very_ big deal, but Naruto's reply left her thinking that it wouldn't be good to push for a better answer at the moment. This was, after all, hardly the place to discuss what he'd gone through even if he wanted to talk about it, and he obviously didn't.

"Who else came on the mission?" he asked quickly, changing the subject.

Hinata started to run down the list of team members, but stopped before she got to the adults or the Sand-nin when Naruto hissed a curse and shook his head disapprovingly.

"It was stupid and dangerous for you all to come after me. Tsunade-baa-chan should have known better than to send so many important people, especially you and Sasuke."

"T-tsunade-sama?" Hinata frowned. "She and Jiraiya-sama c-came with us."

Naruto's face made it clear that he didn't understand. "How on earth did she talk her way into going on this mission? I can't imagine that the Council liked the idea of the Hokage going to rescue a genin."

Hinata was so confused about him thinking that Tsunade was the Hokage that she didn't even notice that he'd gotten his own rank wrong. "Naruto-kun, Tsunade-sama i-isn't the Hokage. She w-works in the hospital."

"Then, the Third's still alive?"

They were suddenly on a topic that she wasn't sure should be broached at the moment. Naruto was obviously still a little confused, which wasn't surprising given what he'd been through, and there didn't seem to be any reason to upset him with talk of village politics just yet. Naruto had always looked up to the Third, she didn't think it would be wise to tell him that the Hokage was on his deathbed (assuming he hadn't died while they were gone) or that he had been displaced by the Village Council.

Unfortunately, she couldn't keep talking to him by herself without answering his question.

"Tsunade-sama will want to know that you are awake," she told him softly, realizing that it was painfully obvious that she was avoiding his question. "I'll be right back."

As it turned out, Hinata didn't have to go looking for Tsunade, the simple act of standing up brought plenty of attention towards her and from her to Naruto. Soon, Jiraiya, Sakura, Sasuke, and Tsunade were by his side while the others watched from a little farther away.

Tsunade was strangely quiet as she examined him, checking for a fever, making him watch her finger as she moved it back and forth, running her glowing green hand over his chest and back.

Naruto waited patiently through most of it, but eventually asked, "How is the village?"

"It's still there," Tsunade grumbled, almost sounding disappointed – though it was hard to say whether it was over the village still existing or Naruto talking – and then added, "Shut up while I finish this."

Naruto didn't shut up. "What's going on with the Third? Didn't he ask you to be Hokage?"

Tsunade shot a suspicious look at Jiraiya, who quickly brought up his hands and shook his head, and then at Hinata and Sakura, who didn't know what they were being accused of and cowered before her ire. "That's not a job I ever plan on taking."

Naruto pushed her hands away from him and stared at her for a second, his eyes upset. "You _have_ to be Hokage," he told her.

Tsunade thumped him on the head and then stood up. "I don't _have_ to be anything, brat." She looked over at Jiraiya and shrugged. "I don't know how he lived through what they did to him, but physically he needs rest and food more than anything." She glanced down at Naruto once more and frowned. "Well, I've met him. Guess I'm free to go."

Naruto sprang to his feet, his face enraged, but that anger instantly disappeared when two things happened simultaneously. First, Naruto was wearing a pair of Sasuke's pants that were too big for his skeletal frame and the moment he was upright, gravity began to have its way with them. Second, even as his pants began to fall – something he didn't even react to – his head seemed to tip sideways, pulling the rest of his body with it until his legs could no longer keep him standing. He went down with a thud, his pants already around his knees.

Hinata quickly looked away, Sakura followed suit, Sasuke let out a sigh as he rolled his eyes, and Tsunade laughed, cruelly Naruto thought.

"Be careful, you might be a little lightheaded and dizzy for the rest of the day," she told him as she turned to leave.

"Shit," Naruto grumbled as he sat up, crossed his legs, and glared down at his stomach. He doubted it was his inability to access the Kyuubi's chakra that was really leaving him feeling as weak as he did, but it didn't help. He was tempted to unseal himself right there, but thought the better of it.

If he unsealed his stomach, it would be obvious that he had done something to himself. Questions would be asked, answers would be needed, and he really didn't think he could handle that at that moment.

Besides, he had no idea what would happen when he unblocked the seal after all this time. He'd never gone so long without Kyuubi's chakra flowing smoothly into his body. Maybe it wouldn't feel any different at all, but there was a chance – a very good chance, he thought – that it would be like blowing up a dam with a great lake behind it.

He thought there might be a way to deal with the sudden rush, if that was really what would happen, but it was another thing that would cause lots of questions and he didn't want to deal with it.

He turned over his hands and looked down at his wrists. It was the first time he'd seen them without shackles on in a long, long time.

There were a lot of things he didn't want to deal with.

Rather than even let his brain continue down that path, he looked around the camp, smiling as he saw those around him. It had been so long. So long.

A boy with black hair and dark circles around his eyes caught Naruto's attention and he stared hard at him trying to place his face. Hinata and Sakura came over to see if he wanted to stand up, or at least to pull his pants up, but rather than answer their question, he pointed at the boy and said, "Who's he?"

The young man in question walked over to him and smiled, hesitantly. Naruto thought it looked a bit like the smile Sai used to give him when they first met. It wasn't as fake, there seemed to be some sincerity in it, but it looked like he needed to practice a little more.

"Naruto-kun, you r-remember Gaara-san, don't you?" Hinata asked.

Naruto raised an eyebrow and looked at Gaara. It was him, of course. He was a little ashamed that he hadn't spotted it. The dark marks around his eyes should have tipped him off even if the hair was completely wrong.

"Gaara has red hair," he pointed out calmly. Gaara's hesitant smile faded a little, but his eyes remained sincere.

"We haven't seen each other in some time," Gaara said softly.

"You look less like a tanuki and more like a raccoon now," Naruto told him.

"Naruto!" Sakura hissed, before turning to Gaara and saying, "I'm really sorry about that."

Naruto smiled, or tried to anyway. From the looks on their faces, he guessed that he was out of practice as well. "I'm joking Sakura-chan."

Gaara studied his face for a moment longer and then said, "You look more like a girl now than you did before."

Naruto's smile widened just a touch. He hoped it looked a little more natural now as well. He reached up and put a hand on Gaara's shoulder, but felt his smile fall a little when he realized that Gaara was taller than he was by a fair amount. The two of them had always, so far as he could remember, been pretty similar in height.

"Thanks for coming to rescue me," he said to his friend who looked very odd with dark hair.

Again, Gaara was silent for a moment, and then he inclined his head and, in a voice that almost sounded as though it were asking a question, said, "That's what friends are for."

A short while later, Jiraiya had them break camp and start their journey back towards Konoha once more. Naruto was too weak to keep up on his own so he – despite much protesting – was carried. Sasuke offered to take him first, but Naruto absolutely refused to let his friend be the one to carry him. Naruto had argued that they were rivals, but that hadn't worked. Then he'd pointed out that there were probably still male Uchiha-tards (the word causing Kiba to choke on his laughter) that might be angry at the sight. And finally, he'd said that it would just be weird to be carried by someone his own age.

Jiraiya had ended the argument by simply picking the blond up and throwing him over his shoulder so they could finally get their journey underway.

As they hopped amongst the trees and ran across the open spaces, Jiraiya carefully explained what had been happening back in the village over the past two years.

Naruto listened with growing dread as the details came spilling out.

o

o

A/N: Well, that was a bit more annoying than I thought it would be, but not too bad. I'd planned on having most of these conversations back in Konoha, but it didn't seem like Naruto would sleep the whole way there and I doubt his friends would leave him alone after having not seen him for so long. Only a few real conversations or character things, but I think it's enough. If nothing else, it was nice to write a "shorter" chapter (only nine thousand words… when did that become _short?_) this time around.

Hopefully you enjoyed it despite the complete lack of fighting or getting to Konoha to see what's going on. We'll get there in the next chapter.

On another note, Vigil42 drew a really cool picture of Naruto as a captive. The deviantart link can be found in my profile, so after you're done here, go check it out.

Please review and let me know what you thought.

Killerbee vs. Kirabi – I don't know if anyone cares or not, but I'm going to be using "Kirabi" as the eight-tails jinchuriki's name, at least until he gets a real name in canon (unless that _is_ his real name). He'll also be referred to as "Bee" at times, which makes little sense if I don't use "Killerbee" but I just don't care. I can't bring myself to use "Killerbee" fulltime. I'm hoping to see a real name for him in canon sometime soon, but we'll see. Just like I use "Gai" instead of "Guy" or "Pein" instead of "Pain" I prefer "Kirabi" to "Killerbee" even if it would probably make more sense to use the latter.

Naruto's Sleep Apnea – This probably seems a little random, but I had a reason for including it (besides giving Sakura and Hinata a scene together). You see, while looking up the effects of tranquilizers – like say the sort used to knock out a jinchuriki – on a person, I found that they can cause sleep apnea if used enough. I found that interesting enough that this scene was born.

Sasori no Danna – "Master Sasori." This is how Deidara refers to Sasori in canon. I think I used Master Sasori in a previous chapter, but I like this better, so the few times it comes back up, it will probably be this way.


	6. What Home Awaits

Chapter 5: What Home Awaits

o

Naruto wanted Gaara to stay with them. Once he'd learned a little about the wars and what had happened to Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari after the Chuunin Exam, he would have been more than happy to see his friends from Suna join Konoha or at least come and stay for a while. He was happy – and a bit relieved – to see that Gaara had come so far since the Chuunin Exams, but in the future (his future anyway) he'd often wished that they could have spent more time together.

At the same time, he didn't want them anywhere near his village. With Danzo in charge, there was no telling how they would be greeted or what would be done with them. Maybe Danzo would try to kill them so he could send their bodies back to Suna in order to help solidify the treaty between the two besieged villages. Maybe he would force them into joining Konoha's ninja corps so he could use Gaara's power against his enemies. Or maybe he would just kick them out and tell them to go somewhere else. With Danzo, it really was hard to be sure. He almost always seemed to be playing the political game differently from anyone else around him, so his actions were often hard to predict. Now that he was in power, Naruto suspected they would be even harder to follow since his goals would no longer be clear.

As they neared the border between the Earth, Rain, and Grass Countries, where the group from Konoha would have to start heading farther east in order to avoid traveling through the strictly guarded Rain Country (something Naruto would have argued against anyway given who was living in that country), Gaara and his siblings decided to head west so they could once again enter the Wind Country. There had been some question about whether or not this was a wise decision since they were wanted criminals in that country, but they were all aware of how badly the war was going for Suna. While few from Konoha really understood Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro's feelings for the village that had basically turned its back on them, there was obviously no talking them out of going to help in whatever way they could.

"It was good to see you again, Uzumaki Naruto," Gaara said as they prepared to part ways.

Naruto did his best to smile. "Stay safe."

"You as well."

They shook hands and that was that. It probably seemed to be a very brief, almost distant, parting between friends, but the two of them knew what it meant and that was enough.

"Next time you get captured, you're on your own," Kankuro chuckled as he walked past Naruto, not bothering to shake hands or even really look at the blond.

"No one made you come," Naruto pointed out.

"Maybe _you_ didn't make me come, but don't think for one second that I was here completely of my own free will."

"They probably would have gotten there faster if they hadn't had to wait for you and that dumb puppet of yours. Next time, you have my permission to stay home."

Kankuro smirked, put an arm around Gaara's shoulder and the two started walking away, Temari following them.

As she passed Shikamaru, she paused for the briefest of seconds and said, "I haven't forgotten the Chuunin Exam." Then she too was away from the group from Konoha and heading back towards wherever they would call home.

"That girl gets scarier every time I run into her," Shikamaru grumbled.

Naruto gave serious consideration to dropping some inappropriate hint about a future event that might not happen now that things were so different, but couldn't bring himself to do it. It would be funny, for him anyway, but he didn't much feel like laughing.

"We should get going," Jiraiya said.

Naruto nodded and managed to take a few steps before Jiraiya picked him up and threw him over his shoulder. Just as he started to argue that he could walk on his own, his eyes caught the sight of something that silenced him long enough for him to forget his outrage.

Naruto wasn't sure what it was about the sight that bothered him so much this time. He'd seen it a few times in the previous day and a half of travel, but for some reason the way it looked, the comfort he saw… it was enough to keep him quiet.

It was more than enough to turn his mind back to how messed up things had gotten and, even worse, how completely incapable of fixing it he was.

It was going to be a long trip back to Konoha.

ooo

"Are you sure this is what you want to do, Gaara?" Kankuro asked as they walked away from their temporary allies from Konoha. "We could have stayed with them a little longer if you wanted to keep spending time with Naruto. It would have been a little out of our way, but not too bad."

Gaara shook his head. "He's safe, so I'm satisfied."

"We have more important things to worry about anyway," Temari pointed out. "Once we get back into the Wind Country, we're going to have to be extremely careful."

"Bah," Kankuro growled, "that's even more of a reason to have stuck with the Leaf-nin."

"Stop complaining. This way is faster and that's what we need for now. If Jiraiya was right, we only have a couple of days before Suna gets hit directly. The way things have gone, they might actually lose."

Kankuro scowled and looked down, watching his feet as they slipped along the rocky ground. "Iwa was foolish to start this war," he grumbled. "What could they possibly hope to gain from it? No village has ever been conquered because the population would forever revolt against the conquerors. They should be offering to accept the Kazekage's surrender by this point."

Gaara didn't look at him as he whispered, "Power."

Temari nodded. "If they defeat Suna and conquer the village, even for a day, that might be the end of the Wind Country's reliance on its own ninja. The daimyo was already sending contracts out to the other ninja villages when he could, how much more will it happen when Suna has been shown to be weaker than Iwa? The Earth Country will probably also gain some land out of the deal. There are valuable minerals in the mountains to the north; you can bet they'll demand those in the peace treaty." She sighed and looked up at the cloudless sky. "If Suna falls, that will be the end of it. Ninja will have to leave when there isn't enough work for everyone, once they're gone the merchants won't have anyone to sell to and they'll leave as well. The village could be abandoned within just a few years. Then, if Iwa really wants to it could attack again and the whole Wind Country could be swallowed up forever."

Gaara's jaw tightened and his dark-rimed eyes narrowed. "That won't happen."

ooo

A few days later, the group of Leaf-nin made their way along the path as the shadows of the trees overhead lengthened and the sky began to darken. Kiba and Akamaru were in front, followed by Shikamaru and Sasuke. Behind them was Jiraiya who was finally letting Naruto walk beside him on his own for a little bit now that they were almost in sight of the village. Chouji, Tsunade, Shizune, and Sakura were behind them, their relaxed walk and quiet conversation belying their readiness to come to the aid of anyone who might be ambushed. Shino, Hiroshi, and Hinata made up the end of the group. Both Hyuuga had their Byakugan activated and were actively watching for any sign of an ambush. Shino had his hands stuffed in his pockets and his face tucked down into the high collar of his jacket, but the rest of the group knew that he had sentry bugs in the surrounding trees looking for any threats – be they Cloud-nin or simple bandits with exceptionally bad luck.

Most of the group was sure that their caution was probably going to be unneeded. The last report they'd gotten before the mission started stated that Kumo was consolidating their forces to the north in preparation for a direct attack on the village and few bandits bothered with the roads near Konoha as there was little civilian travel to and from it now that Kumo had pressed so far into the Fire Country's borders. Still, there was no sense in taking any chances, especially not with their mission so close to being completed.

Hinata wasn't too worried about an ambush. It was a little difficult to see through all the layers of underbrush and tree cover, but she was relatively certain that the rest of the trip would go according to plan. That didn't mean she relaxed, of course, but it did allow her mind to wander to other topics while she continued to actively search for anything she might have missed.

The topic of choice was one that she'd been wrestling with for the last few days. She just wasn't sure what to think of the situation. She'd considered asking Sakura if she'd noticed, but couldn't bring herself to do it. If she _hadn't_ noticed, then Hinata would only be calling attention to something that was probably supposed to be overlooked.

The problem was that it was so _obvious_ that Hiroshi and Naruto were very intentionally ignoring each other. Neither brought it up or called attention to it by making any theatrical about-faces or turning up of their noses in the others presence, but Hinata knew that they hadn't spoken to each other, or looked at each other, or (in Naruto's case) even acknowledged that the other existed despite having traveled so close to each other for so long. She supposed that they probably reminded one another of things that both wished they could forget, but it seemed to be more than that to her.

Hiroshi had been extremely kind since they'd rescued him. He'd taken extra watch shifts, he'd helped carry supplies as soon as he'd been able to talk them into letting him, he'd even given her his blanket when she fell asleep next to Sakura while they watched over Naruto that first night. Everything he could do to help the group, he'd offered – even begged – to do.

Naruto had been much the same, except he was far weaker than Hiroshi and no one was willing to allow him to help in any of the ways he offered.

As near as Hinata could tell, Hiroshi didn't seem to have any problems with Naruto, certainly there was no deep seeded hatred that was on display for anyone with eyes to see it. During the few times that he'd been asked about his captivity and Orochimaru, he'd answered all of their questions that he could. She'd watched him very carefully and could see that he was nervous, but didn't think that he'd lied during any of his answers. He'd been the one to tell them about the genjutsu that were cast repeatedly on Naruto, explaining why he would be so distrustful of his apparent rescue.

So why didn't the two of them ever speak to or look at each other?

She wanted to ask, but didn't think it was her place to do so. Having never experienced anything close to what they'd lived through, she didn't know if what she was seeing was normal or a sign of something more.

"You seem troubled, Hinata-sama," Hiroshi whispered from his spot in front of her.

To a non-Hyuuga, it would have seemed odd that he'd noticed without turning around. Hinata was used to it, however, having grown up with a family who could see through walls and had nearly a full three hundred and sixty degree panoramic vision when they wanted to.

"I… I do not wish to pry."

"I won't consider it prying," he promised. "Please, what do you wish to know?"

Hinata offered a small smile to his back and said, "I was w-wondering if you and N-Naruto-kun do not speak because you remind each other of your c-captivity."

Hiroshi shook his head slowly, his long black hair, matted from going without a comb for a year, waving in the breeze, but didn't turn to look back at her. "I wish that were the case, Hinata-sama." He was quiet for a moment and then said, "I… I am not as strong a man as Naruto-san. He lived through torture far worse than I experienced and for far longer than I. I don't know what he had that Orochimaru-sa… that _Orochimaru_ wanted, but I often wished he would give it up so that his suffering would end."

His steps slowed so that Hinata caught up to him and then he resumed walking at her pace. His white eyes turned to her, and she briefly thought that he looked as though he were glowing as the rising moonlight lit up his extremely pale skin.

Hiroshi took a deep breath and said, "Orochimaru only wanted one thing from me: help. And, eventually, he got it. I tried to hold out, but I could only take the torture for so long. When I gave in, I was told by the guards and by Orochimaru that I wasn't going to have to hurt anyone – they knew that I would rather die than do that. They _simply_ wanted me to close the tenketsu of some of the prisoners. I tried to pretend that I was only keeping myself from suffering anymore and that my actions were keeping my victims from being drugged or beaten unconscious as often, but I never really believed my own lies." He closed his eyes and looked away from her. "I _helped_ Orochimaru torture Naruto by keeping him weak unless they were using genjutsu on him. It is a shame that I shall never escape, I fear; a wrong that I can never right."

Hinata did her best not to allow her face betray her feelings, though she wasn't sure how well she succeeded. For him to have used Juuken on a fellow prisoner, on Naruto, was horrifying and evil and cowardly. He'd admitted to knowing that he was helping Orochimaru torture Naruto. It was one of the worst things she could think of, but at the same time, it was, she hated to admit, somewhat understandable.

Hinata had not studied torture much, but she knew that most people broke and broke quickly. Locked away in an enemy base, powerless to break free from the pain and with no hope of rescue, how could anyone retain the will to resist for long? The human mind was a fragile thing. Enough pain over enough time with no hope of ever being rescued was the perfect recipe for breaking down even the strongest minds and spirits.

When they'd questioned Hiroshi as they hurried away from Orochimaru's base, he'd told them that he was tortured for weeks possibly even months. It was longer than most would have lasted, even Jiraiya had told him so. After that much time, anyone would have agreed to do whatever it took to make the pain stop. The fact that he wasn't really being asked to physically hurt anyone had probably made it that much easier to give in.

There was a part of her – the small part that always came up with angry retorts and silly fantasies about her coming to Naruto's defense when they were younger even though she knew she would never have the courage to do so – that wanted to tell Hiroshi how evil a thing he'd done. A larger part, however, felt pity for him. She could see in his eyes how sorry he was that he had broken and assisted in Naruto's torture, regardless of how small or inconsequential his role might have been. When he said it was a shame he would never escape, what he'd meant was that it was a shame he'd never forgive himself for.

"Naruto-kun is a g-good person," she whispered. "If you asked for forgiveness, I think that he would give it… s-someday. Like you said, he is strong. F-forgiveness is a characteristic of the strong."

Hiroshi looked thoughtful and then he glanced at her speculatively. After a moment, he drew in a long, slow breath and nodded in understanding. "You are strong, too," he whispered.

Hinata frowned, confused. Very few people called her strong, especially those who barely knew her. Her father had said it once or twice over the past two years, her sister a little more often than that, but most of the rest of the clan still found her weak. Not weak enough to openly grumble about her, not by a long shot, actually, but still weak. "H-how do you mean?" she asked.

Hiroshi shrugged and looked down at the ground. It was probably a subconscious mannerism because it served little purpose with his Byakugan activated. Head down or head up, his eyes no doubt kept his field of vision high enough to see her and most everything else around them. "You care deeply for Naruto-san," he said softly, "but you are willing to forgive me despite knowing what I have done."

Hinata felt a tremble pass through her body. She did not like having her feelings pointed out to her and especially didn't like her feelings about Naruto being brought up. They were embarrassing enough on their own without the knowledge that anyone and everyone could see them as if they were written on her forehead. "I… I am not the one who w-was hurt; my f-forgiveness is meaningless."

"No," Hiroshi smiled kindly as he glanced up at her so that she could see his sincerity, "that is not true at all. To me, your forgiveness is very important."

Hinata wasn't sure why. Perhaps it was the way he looked at her when he said it, or that she was already embarrassed by his mentioning her feelings for Naruto, or maybe it was just the fact that he seemed to think her opinion of him to be important when very few others in her clan did, but she found herself blushing and was glad when he kindly quickened his pace so that she didn't have to reply or try to hide her warm cheeks.

Hiroshi was the first member of her clan who was not closely related to her to be so forward in declaring his desire for her to have a good opinion of him. She wasn't sure that anyone in the entire clan, outside of Hanabi and maybe Neji, really cared what she thought of them other than in her role as the Head Family's heir. Her father, perhaps, but it was hard for her to tell if he cared about her feelings for him or just wanted to make sure that she was prepared to take over the clan when the day finally came.

Regardless, it was _nice_ to have someone say something like that to her. She hoped that Naruto would be kind enough to forgive Hiroshi for what he'd done or at least be willing to claim that he was forgiving him. She didn't think that two people could be friends with something like that hanging over them, but if he could at least absolve Hiroshi of some of his guilt, it would be a great kindness.

Even as the village walls came into view, Hinata's attention remained mostly inward, contemplating what she'd learned. It had been a long, difficult mission, but it had a happy ending. Missions like this were in short supply lately, so she was doubly glad to have been a part of it.

Now that she knew what had happened, Hinata had no doubt that Naruto disliked Hiroshi for his involvement in his captivity. It explained everything that she was seeing. She was equally certain that Naruto would eventually forgive him.

As she'd said, he was strong. Strong enough to forgive.

ooo

Konohamaru sighed and stared into the darkness that was slowly swallowing up the village with a feeling of disquiet. He wasn't the only one who could feel it. Even without looking at him, the fact that Udon hadn't sniffled in nearly an hour was enough to tell Konohamaru that his friend was feeling uneasy as well. Moegi was also uncharacteristically quiet, keeping her eyes mostly straight ahead.

Konohamaru glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. She looked old to him, for some reason. He supposed that it was the chuunin vest she was wearing and the dark clothes that matched it. They hadn't reached that rank yet, but everyone serving as a lookout on the wall had to wear one both for camouflage purposes and for protection. Normally, genin weren't allowed on the wall at all, but Konoha's forces – particularly the chuunin and jounin – were being used for other purposes now. Of course, camouflage didn't do much good when you had bright orange hair that stuck almost straight up like Moegi, but every little bit helped.

Moegi caught him looking and her normally rosy cheeks flushed a deeper crimson, though it was hard to see it in the growing dark. Konohamaru smiled, pulling lightly at his teal colored scarf, which suddenly seemed a bit tight, and quickly went back to paying full attention to his job.

Their jounin sensei, Ebisu, who had been standing behind them suddenly stepped forward and leaned over the edge of the wall, squinting behind his dark sunglasses. Konohamaru had no idea why he insisted on wearing them, even at night, but with his dark shirt (under a chuunin vest), dark pants, and dark bandana-style hitai-ate that covered his head, they probably helped him hide within the shadows a little better… even if they made it difficult to see.

"What is it, Ebisu-sensei?" Konohamaru asked, instantly on alert.

Ebisu's eyebrows knit as he peered into the darkness and his lips turned down into their familiar frown. "Someone is coming."

Udon scratched at his head beneath his hitai-ate. "An enemy?"

"If it is, they're sloppy," Ebisu replied, "or so good they aren't worried about us."

Konohamaru did his best not to gulp at that thought, Moegi and Udon didn't bother to hide it. They all knew that the Cloud-nin would be coming soon. Probably not for another few days, but scouting reports had been wrong in the past. There were few other reasons for someone to approach the gates at this point. The village rarely saw visitors anymore and those who did come generally made sure to travel during the day.

At that moment, a large group of maybe a dozen people stepped into view. The tallest amongst them stepped forward and looked up at the gate before him. "Anyone up there?"

Konohamaru let out a sigh of relief. "It's Jiraiya-sama."

"It _sounds_ like Jiraiya-sama," Ebisu corrected. "As guards of the gate, we can't allow someone through without proof."

The three genin nodded their understanding. All three brought their hands together and readied themselves to attack with their best jutsu should Ebisu decide that Jiraiya was an imposter. Konohamaru had a feeling that any enemy confident enough to walk right up to the gates would be able to shrug off their best jutsu without breaking a sweat. With Ebisu around, they stood a chance of surviving against such an enemy, or at least living long enough to sound the alarm.

Konohamaru and his team had been in combat before. Not a lot, but enough that his hands didn't shake anymore at the thought that he could be only a few seconds away from death. They hadn't been allowed to fight in any of the major battles (something he hoped wasn't due to the fact that he was the Third's grandson, though he suspected it was) but they'd participated in enough skirmishes to be used to the rush and fear that came with combat.

If this Jiraiya was actually an imposter, he would be the strongest – or dumbest – enemy they'd ever faced.

Konohamaru whispered a silent prayer that he was the real Jiraiya as he yelled, "Confirm your identity."

Jiraiya brought his hands together and instantly the three genin and lone jounin started to demand that he stop, but then a large cloud of smoke exploded in front of them and Jiraiya was at their level, standing atop the head of an enormous toad. He grinned at them. "Sorry about that, I was in a hurry when I left, I didn't bother to check on the latest password. Hopefully this works."

Ebisu nodded. "Of course, Jiraiya-sama. How was your trip?"

Jiraiya's grin grew larger and he glanced at Konohamaru and winked. "Successful."

Konohamaru's eyes widened as the Toad Sennin's meaning sank in. "Naruto?" he whispered.

Jiraiya nodded. "He's down with the others. Been bitchin' like a mule about being carried the whole way back."

Without another word, Konohamaru launched himself off the wall, landed on the toad's back, and started running towards the ground, ignoring the giant amphibian's complaint about being used as a ladder. He jumped off with only two and a half meters to go and landed in a crouch in front of the group. It took less than a second for him to locate the extremely skinny young man with long, dirty blond hair and a face that was sagging with fatigue despite, according to Jiraiya anyway, being carried the whole trip.

When Naruto had disappeared right after the Chuunin Exam, Konohamaru hadn't known what to think or do. It seemed like he'd sat in his room and cried for the better part of a week. Neither his mother, nor his father, nor even his uncle Asuma had been able to console him. Moegi had done a little better when she'd visited, but not by much. He really hadn't come out of it, until his grandfather had sat down on his bed, gently picked him up and sat him on his lap, hugging and rocking him while he cried as if he were just a little boy.

After what seemed like hours, he'd run out of tears and his grandfather had gently explained to him that he would probably lose friends and even relatives over the course of his life, but they wouldn't be completely gone so long as he cherished them in his heart.

It hadn't been a long speech and certainly hadn't been anything he hadn't already heard at the Academy when they'd all spoken with an older ninja in a one on one session and had the "truths of the battlefield" explained to them. He'd been told how he would probably feel when he experienced his first loss, but that didn't make the pain any easier.

In all honesty, his grandfather's speech hadn't really helped all that much either. It was more due to his grandfather's presence and the fact that when his grandfather said things would one day get better, that he would still miss Naruto, but the pain would lessen, Konohamaru believed him. The Third Hokage was too great a man to lie about something like that, and Konohamaru never doubted anything he said.

It had hurt, for a long time, but gradually, just as he'd been told, it got better. Moegi and Udon helped. They both grieved for Naruto as well, but they weren't nearly as close to him as Konohamaru had been.

And now he was back.

"Bro, is it really you?" Konohamaru asked in delight, already certain of the answer.

Naruto's lips turned up in the approximation of a smile, though it never reached his eyes. "Yeah, it's me." He ran a hand through his long hair, pulling it out of his eyes and then said, "Looks like they'll make anyone a chuunin now a days, huh?"

Konohamaru chuckled, too happy to be annoyed by the teasing. "I'm not really there yet, but it won't be long now. Another couple of missions and you and I will be the same rank!"

Naruto nodded. "How's Ebisu treating you?"

Konohamaru rolled his eyes. "You'd think I was made of glass the way he tries to baby me on missions, but with things the way they are, I still get to have some fun when the action starts."

A strange looked passed over Naruto's face. It was hard to be sure in the dark, but Konohamaru thought that it looked like a cross between Ebisu's protective worry and the reproachful glare Iruka gave him when he misbehaved during class. Before Naruto could say anything, however, the large gates opened just wide enough to let the team enter and Naruto was being hurried off towards the hospital by Tsunade and Sakura.

Before he got too far away, Naruto turned back and called out. "I'll see you around. Maybe I'll play ninja with you for old time's sake."

Moegi landed next to Konohamaru and watched Naruto walking away for a moment before she whispered, "Um, why would ninja… 'play' ninja?"

Konohamaru wasn't sure either, so he shrugged, unable to stop smiling, and said, "Who cares? We'll get to hang out with our 'boss' again."

Moegi looked up at him for a moment, a strange expression in her eyes, and then said. "I like when you look like this. You should wear that smile more often."

Konohamaru had no idea how to respond to that. After a long awkward moment of silence, he returned to his post atop the wall and made a big show of staring into the darkness, hoping his warm face wasn't too visible in the moonlight.

ooo

Danzo sat quietly in the Hokage's office, _his_ office, and stared out the window at the village as it prepared itself for sleep. He'd only been the Hokage for a few days, but already it felt as if he'd held the title his whole life. It was, after all, the job that he'd been preparing himself for since the deaths of the First and Second Hokage. They'd chosen Hiruzen, of course, because his beliefs so closely mirrored their own, but Danzo had always known that in the end, he would be the Hokage.

The village needed someone like him. Someone who could bring order to the chaos that the pacifists allowed to fester within the village walls.

It wasn't that he was opposed to peace, quite the opposite in fact. He just didn't believe that there could be peace without victory. All the treaties that stopped wars without anyone really winning or losing, they all ended up giving the enemy time to rebuild and prepare for the next wave of attacks. It had been true before the village system was set up and, as evidenced by Kumogakure's attack, it was true in the new system as well. If Konoha had overrun Kumo back then, breaking their power completely, there would have been a more lasting peace.

It was almost amusing to him that everyone loved the pacifists, such as the Third, with their talk of peace and their desire for lives to be spared, but in the end pacifism actually _led_ to more war!

Danzo was well aware of the fact that there were many who considered him dangerous because he was a "war hawk." In his view, that title wasn't accurate. He wasn't a war hawk, he was simply a realist.

The reality of life in the ninja world was that if you didn't destroy your enemy when you had the chance, he would probably try to destroy you when you least expected it.

Danzo leaned forward on his cane, allowing it to hold more of his weight than normal so that it bowed slightly. Then, by simply letting go, he caused the cane to jump up into his hand and snapped it around. The pole that was actually a scabbard for the sword hidden within was sent flying across the room until it stopped in midair as a hand seemed to materialize around it.

"I've told you not to do that," Danzo growled. "You know how much I dislike being spied upon."

"Forgive me, Hokage-sama," the young man holding the cane/scabbard replied calmly as he bowed and held up the cane for Danzo to reclaim. His porcelain mask was decorated by three red curved lines that looked almost like claws as they rose up from a common starting point along each side of his mask. "I was not spying, only waiting for you to notice me. I didn't want to interrupt your thoughts."

Danzo nodded as he crossed the room and easily slid the sword back into its hiding place. "You have something to report?"

"Jiraiya has returned with the team he put together. They have rescued Uzumaki Naruto. He has been taken to the hospital to be examined."

Danzo frowned and turned back to the window. "I see."

A part of him, admittedly a small part, had hoped that the technically authorized mission (he had questioned each of the witnesses to the assigning of the mission and could find no point with which to discredit the story) would be a failure. It would have been nicely convenient if Orochimaru, Tsunade, and Jiraiya had simply killed each other. Jiraiya and Tsunade could be valuable tools – which was why only a small part of him had hoped for failure – but they were tools that tried to have a say in how they were used and that made them less useful.

If they weren't willing to completely follow his orders, he couldn't trust them enough to use them as he needed to. Still, they'd brought the jinchuriki back. In that, at least, they'd done something for him.

Danzo didn't like jinchuriki. He didn't like bijuu either, for that matter. What he liked even less was that Senju Hashirama, the First Hokage, in his _infinite_ pacifistic wisdom had given such incredibly powerful weapons to the other ninja villages rather than consolidating them within Konoha. If the damn things had to exist, why give that sort of power to your _enemies_?

He'd never understood the rationale behind that decision. Unfortunately, the reality was that the bijuu, now locked within jinchuriki, _did_ exist and they were being used by Konoha's enemies. With Naruto back, at least Konoha now had a counter to Kumo's jinchuriki.

Danzo closed his one visible eye and said, "Tell Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura to meet me at the hospital. My new weapon has been in the village for several minutes already, it's time I met him."

ooo

At that very moment, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura were in a restaurant sharing a small meal together as they often did when their daily duties were finally done. They never had anything expensive or extravagant, but simple food that could be enjoyed in peace while they discussed whatever topic they felt needed discussing. Usually this meant that they merely carried on conversations from earlier in the day that hadn't been resolved or were still weighing on one of their minds. Once upon a time, they had occasionally had a third member to their dinner party when his own duties didn't detain him late into the night, but he had been sick for so long, it was hard to remember the last time the Third Hokage had eaten with them.

Lately, their conversations had been more reserved. In the past few days, they'd gone almost entire meals without speaking because neither wanted to give voice to their thoughts. With Jiraiya and Tsunade back in the village after their mission to rescue Naruto – a mission that had visibly angered Danzo when he learned of it – Homura found that he could not keep quiet this night.

"Did we make the right decision?" he asked, putting his chopsticks down and straightening the green glasses he always wore.

Koharu quietly stirred her miso soup without looking up; she didn't need him to clarify which decision he was referring to. "It's hard to say," she said at last. "It was a difficult decision forced on us by a terrible situation. I think we made the only decision available to us."

Homura wasn't very convinced. "We forced Hiruzen out of office," he pointed out. He knew the reasons why he'd done it, why _they_ had done it, and still didn't disagree with them. Konoha needed a Hokage. Things couldn't continue with the Council trying to run the village and everyone knowing that the Third was lying in a bed, struggling to breathe. It was hurting morale, it was hurting the efficiency of the village government, and it was hurting the war effort. But Hiruzen was still his friend, his best friend, and forcing him to step down so that a Council-selected replacement could take his position didn't sit right with him.

"Hiruzen is dying," Koharu pointed out. "He should have been out of office a long time ago."

Homura agreed with her, but he didn't like it. "We were the ones who helped kick him out. I can't help but feel that the First would not have approved."

"Danzo is only going to hold the job until a more suitable replacement can take over. He's temporary."

Homura shook his head and leaned back, scratching at his beard. "There's no such thing as a '_temporary_' Hokage. We helped him become Hokage. He'll stay until he picks a successor and we both know that he won't be in a hurry to do that, regardless of what he said to earn people's support."

"You're right, of course," Koharu replied with a resigned sigh, "but it may not be a bad thing. During times of war, men like him can be good leaders."

"During times of war, men like him can take complete control and change the very nature of the village. In the end, his power could be absolute if we aren't careful."

She frowned. "And what do you suggest we do if he makes a play for something like that? Trying to remove him would only create chaos. The whole reason we went along with the plan was to stop the chaos that Hiruzen's refusal to pick anyone besides his students was creating."

Homura carefully picked up a small clump of rice with his chopsticks and placed it in his mouth, chewing slowly and thoughtfully. "We are trapped then. If he decides to start turning the Academy into a version of his Root program, we'll have no choice but to accept it."

"For the good of Konoha… yes."

"What happens when Konoha is no longer Konoha?"

Neither of them had an answer for that question and an uncomfortable silence stretched out between them until a messenger from Danzo walked up to their table and informed them that the Hokage they had chosen was going to the hospital to see Naruto and wanted them to join him. The two village elders rose, paid for their meals, and then began slowly walking towards the hospital.

Their Hokage had summoned them and they had no choice now but to comply.

ooo

Naruto hated hospitals. He was fairly certain that he had always hated them (or _it_, since he only ever visited one), but in the future the hospital had been the site of a lot of bad news and unpleasant memories.

As a patient, he'd always received exemplary attention (as all Leaf-nin did), but being a patient meant that he was stuck in bed or wrapped up and unable to move because of some injury. It also meant shots and gross medicine and a medic-nin touching him where he really didn't want to be touched while they told him to look to the side and cough. There was nothing enjoyable about any of that.

When he wasn't a patient, the nurses and medic-nin were perfectly within their rights – even if it was a bit cruel – to give him the same cold stares that the rest of the village did. Their actions didn't hurt him physically or cause him to be hurt physically, so from a legal standpoint they weren't doing anything wrong. It got better as he got older and started winning the village over, but first impressions were hard to shake. The first time he could ever recall entering the hospital had been when Sakura twisted her ankle during training at the Academy. He'd brought her a flower he'd picked himself, but for reasons that he couldn't understand at the time no one would tell him which room was hers or even really talk to him and he'd eventually been told that visiting hours were over and was ordered to leave.

He'd thought it strange that visiting hours ended at three in the afternoon on Tuesdays, but the nurses assured him that they did, so what could he do?

Now he was a patient again and hated the place just as much as ever. A medic-nin had already had him take two pills that tasted like a cross between grass and the mud from a pigsty and drink a red liquid that burned all the way down to his stomach. Then he'd had Naruto drop his pants, look to the side, and cough. Naruto wanted to kick him, but with his pants around his ankles, that wasn't really an option.

He wasn't sure that he had the energy to do it anyway. For the first time in a long time, he could judge what time it was by the amount of light outside and it was definitely getting late. He wished the window in his room was open, so he could see the lights of Konoha again, but the nurse and medic-nin had insisted they remain closed for his privacy. The absurdity of it all almost made him laugh. He'd spent two years wearing the remains of the pants that he'd been wearing when he was captured. It had only taken a few weeks with Orochimaru for them to be little more than rags. Modesty wasn't a big priority for him anymore.

Not that he appreciated a medic-nin putting his hands where they weren't wanted.

The exam continued for several more minutes, though the worst of it was over once his pants went back up. If there was one bright side to the whole affair, it was that Tsunade and Sakura weren't the ones examining him at the moment. He was pretty sure that he would have told them to go to hell if one of them asked him to drop his pants, and then they might have punched him, and then he would have been unconscious, and then they could do whatever they wanted with his pants and he'd be powerless to stop them…

Naruto looked down at the white sheets of the bed he was sitting on and then slowly pulled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his thin arms around them. The back of the hospital gown he'd been forced to put on opened, probably revealing the top of his butt to anyone who cared to look, but he was alone in the room for the moment and didn't really care anyway. He slowly reached up with his left hand and pulled his long hair away from his face as he stared with unseeing eyes down at his bare knees.

Powerless.

He hated that word more than he hated hospitals. He'd been powerless for two years. Two years! Never in his strange life had he ever been so weak for so long. He'd been tortured, he'd been weak, and he'd been broken, but never for more than a day or two. Usually he slept and then woke up ready to beat down anything that got in his way.

But then he'd never fallen into the hands of Orochimaru.

Orochimaru was strong enough and smart enough and tricky enough that he could never really be defeated. Naruto was certain that no matter what he did, he would lose. Maybe he could have taken the old Orochimaru, the one that should have been in the Forest of Death during the Chuunin Exam, but after what he'd gone through, he wasn't sure he would even have stood a chance against him.

He'd always heard that everyone eventually met someone better than them. The First and Second Hokage, despite being considered two of the strongest ninja alive, had eventually been killed in battle. The Third had been killed by Orochimaru. Jiraiya had been killed by Pein. Itachi had been killed by either Sasuke or Orochimaru (Naruto still wasn't sure who had been in control of Sasuke's body at that point). The list went on and on… and featured Orochimaru several times.

Maybe Orochimaru was just meant to be the one who was always better. Orochimaru had outmaneuvered him in their fiddling with the timeline and managed to capture and torture him for two years. On top of that, Naruto was certain that Orochimaru had killed him in the future, just before they were somehow thrown back in time. They'd both been at their peek and Orochimaru had wiped the dirty streets of the village with him. The fact of the matter was that whenever he squared off against Orochimaru, he lost and lost badly.

Worse than that, fatally worse, was the fact that Naruto knew he was afraid of Orochimaru. After two years, his body naturally shrank in on itself whenever he so much as _thought_ about Orochimaru. Even now, as the medic-nin finished his initial examination and headed for the door (probably to tell Tsunade or Sakura what he'd found), Naruto could feel his hands starting to shake and his lungs constricting just from the thought of thinking about Orochimaru.

_'I can't beat him,'_ he admitted to himself with growing despair. _'I'll never be able to beat him.'_

And if he couldn't beat Orochimaru, what did that mean for all of his friends?

He knew what it meant. He'd already lived through it once. They were all going to die and he was going to have to watch again unless he was lucky enough to get killed first.

The door swung open and Tsunade marched in without so much as a knock to warn him she was entering. Naruto almost smiled in relief for the distraction as he felt the gloom slip to the back of his mind for a moment.

The two of them stared at each other for a long minute. Tsunade looked much the same as ever. Her blonde hair was short in front, barely extending below her jaw, but the two long pigtails in the back nearly reached her waist. Her green coat with the red kanji for "gambling" on the back hung open and the gray shirt underneath seemed to just barely contain her enormous chest.

Naruto remembered wondering for a while whether they were real or just another addition the jutsu that made her seem so much younger than her age. When he finally asked Jiraiya about it, he'd been teased long and hard about being a pervert, which had – of course – caused a fight. In the end, Jiraiya had assured him that they were quite real and most definitely fantastic. It was hard to remember Jiraiya's exact words on the subject, but they were something to the effect of "the sight of them was definitely worth almost dying."

"Jiraiya seems to think that 'meeting' you needs to last more than a few seconds," she said at last. "And Sakura wanted me to take a look at your test results and give you a more thorough check up now that we aren't in the field."

Naruto shrugged, releasing his knees and swinging his legs over the side of the bed so he could face her a little more naturally. "So, what's the verdict? Am I dying?"

Tsunade's lips twisted into a smirk. "No, you'll live for a little while longer it seems. I think once your body gets used to eating a decent meal and sleeping enough at night that you'll probably have an unpleasant puberty as you rush to catch up, but other than that your scars won't be physical." She paused and her brown eyes danced with mirth when she added, "You'll probably always be a bit on the shrimpy side, though."

Naruto sighed. As if he needed another annoyance to deal with. For one brief second, he again considered the idea that this might not all be a genjutsu that Orochimaru had him under. Being short had always annoyed him as a child and now after growing out of it in the future, his growth had been reset and he was going to be stuck that way on a more permanent basis. "Great."

"Get over it. You're lucky that's the only thing wrong with you. The Orochimaru I remember would have just cut your legs and arms off and left you as a stump so you couldn't escape."

"He thought he might need my body."

Tsunade frowned. "What do you mean?"

"He has a jutsu that lets him put his soul in someone else's body. He thought he might need mine, so he didn't do anything that could permanently hurt me too bad." Naruto looked down at his skinny legs as his feet swung back and forth a fair distance from the floor. "Apparently he's not very hung up on being short."

"So he's completed it."

Naruto nodded and the two fell into silence once more until he asked, "Why didn't you want to be Hokage?"

Tsunade glared at him and started leaning backwards as if she were preparing to head for the door. "Not that it's any of your business, but like I said before, I don't plan on ever taking that job."

"Because of Nawaki and Dan, right?"

Her reaction was instantaneous. In the blink of an eye, she was across the room, her strong hands grasping his hospital gown and pulling him forward so that their faces were mere centimeters apart. "How do you know those names?!?" she demanded, her face furious.

Naruto stared at her calmly. Once upon a time, Tsunade had possessed the ability to scare the crap out of him, but now even her anger was a nice reminder of simpler times… and after the past two years, no threat from a friend could possibly cause him to worry. "Answering a question with a question is rude," he replied. "If you answer mine, I'll answer yours."

She let released him, adding a little shove for good measure, and he ended up on his back. "I don't care about the answer to your question. There're only a few people who would remember something like that and you've been hanging around two of them. Either Orochimaru or Jiraiya told you."

Naruto opened his mouth to inform her that neither of them had, or at least he didn't think they had, but quickly closed it again. When he thought about it, it occurred to him that he wasn't sure who had told him the story. For all he could remember, it _could_ have been Jiraiya who told him. It also could have been Shizune, or even Tsunade herself.

He was at a crossroads and wasn't sure that he was in the best frame of mind to really make the decision he needed to make. He could tell her the truth, of course, and try to convince her that he was really from the future, but Tsunade had never been one to accept outlandish stories, even when they were true. She liked facts and proof and evidence, lots of things that he didn't have. He wasn't sure he could even perform some of his better jutsu at the moment.

"What a waste of time," Tsunade grumbled, turning away from him. "I never should have let Jiraiya talk me into this." She started to walk towards the door.

"Wait," Naruto whispered.

Surprisingly, she did.

"I'm sorry," he told her. "I… I shouldn't have said that. It was a cheap shot to bring up your brother and boyfriend like that. Please… forgive my rudeness."

Tsunade glanced over her shoulder at him and then slowly turned around. Her brown eyes remained hard for a few seconds, but then slowly softened. "I suppose, after what you've been through, a little understanding on my part might be in order. You haven't been around real humans in a while and, from what Sakura says, you weren't exactly the most socially graceful person to begin with."

"You talked to Sakura-chan about me?"

Tsunade smiled and gave him a sly wink. "You might have come up a few times. I think she might have talked about you almost as much as she talked about Sasuke."

Naruto sighed. "She should have just forgotten about me, they both should have, it would have been better."

Tsunade's eyes narrowed. "You don't get to make that decision. Sometimes people hold onto things that are painful because, even if it hurts, as long as they feel the pain, they remember."

Naruto looked down at his hands and noticed they were shaking. "I wanted to make everything better for them, to keep them safe. I thought if I could keep them safe until I was ready to be Hokage…"

"Hokage?" Tsunade snorted. "What is it with you and that title? Hokage doesn't _mean_ anything, not really. It's just a shitty title for a shitty dream that will kill you sooner or later."

Naruto wasn't sure if she was trying to piss him off so that he would feel less down or just happened to believe and feel the need to mention one of the few things that he really hated. Regardless of her reasons and despite his feelings of helplessness and depression, he had never liked it when someone put down the name Hokage and hearing her do it was intolerable.

"How can you say that?" he growled. "Your grandfather, his brother, your sensei, even your boyfriend and brother—"

"Yeah, yeah, they all died for that dream," Tsunade finished with a roll of her eyes and a dismissive wave of her hand. "You and Jiraiya are just the same."

"No!" Naruto yelled, jumping to his feet on the bed, not caring that his hospital gown was barely covering his modesty. "They didn't die for that dream, they _lived_ for it! All the Hokage and all those striving for Hokage, all they wanted was to protect the people of this village. They might have died, but so what? Everyone dies. Would you rather die in a sea of booze and debt, full of regrets over your wasted life, or would you rather sacrifice yourself for the good of the village you love?"

"But I don't love this village."

Naruto felt like he'd been punched in the gut. The energy his righteous indignation had given him evaporated in an instant in the face of Tsunade's declaration. He dimly remembered her before she'd agreed to become the Fifth Hokage. It was possible that she'd been this bad back then, but somehow it felt like she was worse off than before.

Naruto lowered his head, his long bangs falling down and partially obscuring his face. For a long moment he was silent as he tried to deal with what he was hearing. It seemed impossible that this person was the Tsunade who should have been Hokage by this point. It seemed impossible that he could have ever respected someone like her had things gone the way they were supposed to in the timeline. She was like a whole other person… but she wasn't another person and he knew it. She _was_ Tsunade.

"You're lying," Naruto hissed as he lifted his gaze and glared at her through his blond locks, though he wasn't completely sure that he wasn't the one who was lying. "If you didn't love this village, you wouldn't be here. Keeping a promise to Jiraiya that you would meet with me, taking care of the Third, those are _shitty_ reasons to stay and you know it. They aren't good enough reasons to start training Sakura-chan either. You wouldn't do those things if you didn't care."

"You think you know me so well, do you?" Tsunade replied with a sneer. "You don't know shit about me or what I've been through."

Naruto shook his head. "You're more wrong than you could possibly know, but I don't have the energy or the patience to convince you of it." His eyes locked onto the necklace with the teal crystal that was resting between her enormous breasts. "If you don't want to be Hokage, that's fine, I doubt I could fix it at this point anyway. But if you aren't going to accept the role you were practically born to fill, you might as well hand over the First Hokage's necklace! The way you are now, you aren't worthy of being Hokage, better to get rid of it before it kills you."

Tsunade's eyes widened in surprise and then slowly shifted to something different as her right hand unconsciously reached up and closed around the necklace that both her little brother, Nawaki, and Dan, the man she had wanted to marry, had been wearing when they were killed. Naruto could read her confusion on her face. No doubt she could accept the assumption that Jiraiya had told him about her brother and Dan, but the necklace was less easy to accept as coming up in conversation. Jiraiya probably knew that Tsunade thought the necklace was cursed and would reject, with deadly consequences, anyone unworthy of the Hokage name, but he would also know how private a matter it was and was unlikely to bring it up without reason.

The look on her face wasn't all that different from the look she'd given him when he told her that Jiraiya never would have sent her on the mission to scout out Pein that he was killed on. Even still, he was irritated enough to push her a little more before dropping the subject and trying to get her to leave so he could go back to mourning the loss of seemingly every good thing he'd known in the original timeline. "I have the Kyuubi inside me. That necklace is more useful to me than it is to you."

Tsunade stared at him long and hard, her brown eyes reflecting the slight hurt and – more prominently – confusion that she was obviously feeling at either his rather detailed knowledge of things that he really shouldn't know much about or his boldness in pointing them out to her. Naruto knew it would only be a few seconds before her anger would appear and take shape. It might burn hot, in which case he would probably get yelled at and, if she was really mad, knocked unconscious. Worse would be if it burned cold. If that happened, she would simply turn around and walk away, dismissing not only his words but also his existence.

He waited patiently to see which way she would go.

Tsunade finally opened her mouth, but before she could voice her retort, the door behind them opened up and one of the last people Naruto wanted to see stepped through.

"Greeting, Uzumaki-san. Do you know who I am?"

Naruto glanced at Tsunade and saw that she was equally unhappy by the form the interruption took. He waited for another second or two and then stepped off the bed, landing a little awkwardly, but not so bad that he stumbled or felt anything more than a twinge of protest from his joints and muscles. "I know who you are…"

Naruto had known this moment would come at some point and he'd expected it to be sooner rather than later. He hadn't gotten a whole lot of details about the war from his friends, but from what he'd heard and deduced, it seemed that one of Konoha's problems had to do with Kumo's jinchuriki. No one had used that exact word, of course, but from what had been said about Yugito, Naruto was certain that's what she was. He'd never heard of her, but then the only jinchuriki he'd ever really known was Gaara.

A jinchuriki problem and a loyal jinchuriki being brought back to the village, of course Danzo was going to come and see him. The new Hokage would want to size him up, put him in his place, and make sure that he understood that he was supposed to obey without question. At least, that's how the Danzo he'd always heard about and briefly dealt with would have done things.

Danzo was sneaky, manipulative, and willing to do whatever he thought necessary to achieve his goals.

The plan that Naruto had developed, or at least the early aspects of the plan he'd developed, required him to be just as sneaky and manipulative. Usually, those weren't things that he was great at, but he'd always been one to surpass his limits when he absolutely had to.

Naruto dropped to one knee and bowed his head respectfully, not a hint of his dislike for the man on his face or in his voice. "What can I do for you, Hokage-sama?"

It was a plan that he'd come up with right after he'd learned that Danzo was Hokage and finished throwing a little mental temper tantrum at the unfairness of universe throwing yet another messed up situation at him, as if he didn't have enough problems already. The simple facts of the matter were that with Konoha at war, he couldn't really do anything to undermine the authority of the new Hokage, no matter how much he despised him. Naruto knew without a doubt that there had been plenty who had despised him when he was sort of Hokage, but they followed out of loyalty to the village.

In Naruto's opinion, the Hokage, no matter who he or she happened to be, was worthy of respect. They were the Hokage, after all, they protected the Will of Fire for the whole village.

With it being Danzo, Naruto really hated to have to do it, but the good of Konoha had to come before any petty vindictiveness. A sign of respect and submission at this point not only kept there from being any rifts within the village (at least none that he was responsible for) and, perhaps more importantly, kept himself from being someone that Danzo was carefully watching.

If he did what he felt like doing – something along the lines of a swift kick to the groin and a loogie to the face sounded good – he would no doubt have a team of ANBU following and reporting his every move… and that was probably a best case scenario. If Danzo really wanted to, he could take a sign of disrespect, be it as major as a physical attack or as minor as a refusal to bow, as an act of sedition.

Naruto knew better than anyone that wars, particularly ones you were losing, changed the way rules and laws were handled. Hadn't he, after all, been forced to start imprisoning people just for _surviving_ near massacres because a few of them had been turned into walking time bombs by Orochimaru. If Danzo decided to throw him in prison, put him under house arrest, or whatever else he could think of, it would probably not so much as raise an eyebrow amongst most of the population.

Besides, Danzo hadn't really done anything wrong at this point, so far as he knew. Tsunade was not Hokage, there had been no coup attempt, and Danzo was basically the legitimately selected leader of the village. Actually, except for the Third still being alive – though only just barely from what Jiraiya had said – this wasn't all that different from how Tsunade had come into power the first time. The Third being alive was a pretty _big_ difference, but given the state of things, Naruto didn't really disagree with the Council electing a new one.

He just _really_ didn't like the one they chose.

Danzo leaned heavily on his cane as he looked down at Naruto and then glanced at Tsunade who was staring down at him in a strange mix of surprise and horror. Naruto didn't see the corner of Danzo's mouth twitched, but he was certain there was a smug look on the older man's face.

"I see you have been informed of the changes in the village that have occurred since you… left."

"He was _kidnapped_," Tsunade corrected.

"Yes, I've heard some of what happened," Naruto replied as though she hadn't spoken. It pleased him a little to hear her stand up for him, especially since he'd basically called her a coward and a waste of talent only a moment earlier, but at the moment all of his attention had to be on Danzo.

"Then you know of the war?"

"A little, no one would tell me specifics."

"There is little need for that. I have a detail, however, that you do need to be aware of: one of Kumo's jinchuriki has been joining the main forces more and more frequently. According to our latest scouting reports, their next strike will be against Konoha itself. Yugito will be with them."

Naruto stood and looked at Danzo carefully. This also wasn't a surprise to him. "You want me to try to kill her."

"No!" Tsunade shouted, stepping forward. "That's insanity. He wouldn't stand a chance against someone like her, not after what he's been through. Physically, there's no way he can stand up to her yet."

Danzo's lone visible eye shifted towards Tsunade and narrowed in annoyance. "If some of Konoha's more gifted and experienced ninja had been more active from the beginning, perhaps we wouldn't have to ask this of Uzumaki-san."

Before Tsunade could reply, and she seemed more than ready to say something that could get her in trouble, Naruto said, "She's right, after the last two years, I don't know how much of a fight I'll be able to put up."

Naruto suspected, though with Danzo it was always hard to be sure, that the way this plan was being put forth was probably as much to incite Tsunade as it was to test his loyalty. Danzo had never liked her in the future, though Naruto wasn't sure when the dislike had started. It seemed that it either went back at least this far or that she'd done something else to earn his ire. Either way, Danzo was goading her and from the way she was reacting, Naruto knew it would be best if he could keep the Hokage's attention on him.

Danzo's eye turned back to him and narrowed as his voice, which hadn't been all that pleasant in the first place, turned icy cold. "Then I expect you to _distract_ her while someone else does your job for you. Regardless, you were born to be our weapon and that's what you will do. The Kyuubi owes this village a large debt for the damage it wrought when it attacked, now that I am in charge, that debt will begin being repaid and the mistake of the First Hokage made when he gave the other villages control of the bijuu."

Once more his attention shifted to Tsunade. "Speaking of mistakes," he said in a calm voice, "Koharu and Homura are in the hall waiting for you. They will be the ones who hear about your 'mission.'" He glanced over his shoulder at the two Council Elders and then added, "For future reference, only the _current_ Hokage can assign missions, especially ones involving two of the Sannin, the last of the Uchiha, and the Hyuuga clan's heiress."

Tsunade's jaw flexed in agitation, but after a few seconds, she let out a slow breath and walked towards the door. When she was gone, Danzo took another step towards Naruto and looked down his nose at him. The white bandages wrapped around his face only seemed to make the wrinkles of his weathered skin stand out that much more. The 'X' shaped scar that covered almost his entire chin shifted as he moved his jaw back and forth.

When Danzo spoke, it was in a soft, but strangely threatening voice. "Let us be clear, Uzumaki Naruto. What I do, I do for Konoha. Our enemies are at our gates because we have been willing to relax and enjoy what we thought was peace while they prepared to destroy us." His left hand, which held his cane, flexed noticeably. It was the only visible sign of the anger Naruto suspected he was feeling at the moment. "I expect you to follow my orders. Insubordination from Tsunade can be tolerated to a degree because of who she is. You will get no such considerations. The Bijuu should have been done away with long ago; they should never have been handed over to the other nations. However, now that we face such a weapon, we will need a similar weapon of equal or greater power to counter it."

"I've never fought Yugito, I don't know anything about her," Naruto replied. "I do know that right now I wouldn't stand a chance against Haruno Sakura in a straight fight, so I can't imagine that I'll do much besides stand there and die if I have to fight another jinchuriki… but what I do, I also do for Konoha." He bowed his head respectfully. "I will follow your orders, Hokage-sama." _'So long as they are for the good of Konoha,'_ he added silently.

o

o

A/N: Well, another "character" chapter in the bags. Hopefully my interpretation of Danzo's character made sense in there. The more I thought about him, the less I could see him as someone who wants to be Hokage just for the sake of getting to have people call him Hokage. Obviously the power that goes with the title would be important to him, but I think I can see him looking at his more pacifistic predecessors and thinking, "they're all idiots." Actually, when I started writing his scene, I kind of found myself agreeing with him. The First giving the Bijuu to the other countries probably did help create a peace between them (for about five minutes anyway, given that there have been two or three Great Ninja wars in canon in the past 80 years), but it's like giving nuclear weapons to countries that hate you in the real world. Kind of dumb, in my opinion…

Ah, sorry about being late by a day. I got a new computer, so things have been a little crazy. Not only is it a new computer, but it's a Mac, so I'm learning a new operating system as well as having to move files from one computer to the next… also, I now have sound (which I've been without for over a year) _AND_ a 24 inch (61 cm) screen! Yay!

Please review and let me know what you thought.

"Forgiveness is a characteristic of the strong" – Hinata is quoting/paraphrasing Gandhi here. The full quote is "The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong."


	7. There Is No “Back To Normal”

A/N: There were some slight changes to the last chapter, specifically to the conversation between Danzo, Naruto, and Tsunade. I generally don't like doing this, but after I got several complaints about Naruto's actions, I realized that I had made it seem like he had no idea what to do, so he just bowed to keep his options open. At some point in the writing process, that was probably my intention, but as I worked on it and thought about the scene, I began to think that Naruto's actions were more thought out. Somehow, those changes in my thinking didn't really get added to the text… sloppy, sloppy… The changes make it clear that Naruto does have a plan for his actions and gives reasons for them as well (I thought the reasons were somewhat implied the first time, but that might have been due to the fact that I already _knew_ them). You are welcome to go back and reread that part, of course, but if you don't want to go through the trouble, just know that Naruto's act of submission was primarily just that: an act. Danzo is Hokage, and probably an authoritarian one at that, so acting disrespectful is a rather stupid idea. There has also been some additions that make it a little more clear that Danzo's plan – or the way he presented it anyway – was as much to goad Tsunade as it was to test Naruto's loyalty. Also, he's not an idiot, that wasn't his whole plan.

Enjoy the chapter.

o

Chapter 6: There Is No "Back To Normal"

o

o

While he was in the dream, he couldn't seem to help but go along with it. He didn't want to – mostly – and he was somewhat consciously aware of how badly he wanted to get away, but his dream-self just wouldn't comply. It ran on autopilot through the strangely disturbing narrative that his subconscious had mapped out for him and he had no choice but to watch it all play out.

What had brought it on? Where had these images come from? Most of them were things that he was sure hadn't happened in reality, but while dreaming it was hard to separate real memories from those his subconscious was creating. Truth be told, while he was in the dream, he wasn't totally sure that he _was_ dreaming, but a part of him prayed that he was. If it was real, if he was actually doing these things…

With a cry of alarm, Naruto's eyes snapped open and he sat bolt upright in his bed. The white sheets of the hospital bed were clenched tightly between his sweating fingers as his chest heaved and his eyes stared blankly at the gray-green wall in front of him.

For a long moment, there was no sound except that of his own pounding heart and ragged breathing and then a soft voice chuckled.

"My, my, you must be happy to see me," Sakura laughed from her seat next to his bed.

Naruto wasn't quite sure what she was talking about, though he _was_ happy to see her of course. He started to lean to the side, preparing to slide his legs around to the edge of the bed and get out, if she'd let him, when he suddenly noticed a very strange sensation that accompanied the movement. He glanced down at his lap and his eyes widened in horror.

"Shit!" In the blink of an eye, his pillow was in his lap and his face was bright red.

Sakura giggled. "Pervert. You're back for less than a day and you're already having thoughts like that?" She let out an exaggerated sigh and rolled her eyes. "Well, I suppose my mother was right about you. You really aren't a very good person for a young _innocent_ girl like myself to be around."

"Sakura-chan… I… it wasn't… I mean… I didn't…" Naruto's embarrassment was so great that he wasn't even sure what it was he was trying to say.

The truth was, she _had_ been in the dream, or part of it anyway. He could at least excuse her presence since he'd once – and only once – seen and done those things with a different version of her in the future. He didn't have an excuse like that for Hinata, though at least she was a nice, cute girl. Even worse was Karin's presence in the dream. The fact that he was having perverted dreams about two of his friends (very _young_ friends, no less) was bad enough, but why the hell was he having that sort of dream about someone who had helped torture him for the better part of two years?!?

"Relax, dummy," Sakura said with a smile as she reached over and began checking his vitals, "I'm not going to hit you for it. Geez, give me a little credit. I know all about puberty and what those hormones do to your body. You're finally being allowed to get some real sleep and are being fed decent meals, you're body is just starting to get back to normal. It's totally natural," she winked and added, "Especially when you have a friend as beautiful and alluring as me!"

Naruto's face didn't stop burning, but he felt a little better. Very little, but a little nonetheless. He had a feeling that the Sakura in the future probably would have hit him, certainly the fifteen-year-old version would have. It was possible that this one was so different from the others that she'd let it slide, but he suspected it had more to do with her sympathy for what he'd gone through than anything else.

"Well, other than your pleasant dreams, did you sleep well?" Sakura asked, mercifully changing the subject, sort of.

He hadn't. He'd dwelled on the fact that Tsunade was so… not-Tsunade until his body couldn't remain awake anymore, then he'd had nightmares about Orochimaru that had woken him up several times throughout the night, and then even more disturbing dreams afterwards. He wasn't, however, dumb enough to miss the fact that there was a very obvious lie that would get him out of the hospital quicker than the truth. "Yeah…"

Sakura gave him a dubious look. "You've got bags under your eyes and you can barely keep them open," she noted.

"You asked if I slept well, not if I was still tired," he retorted with a yawn. He was doing his best not be annoyed with the questions or Sakura, but was finding it a bit difficult. "I haven't slept much the last two years, I don't think a few nights of sleep are going to make up for what I missed."

Sakura sighed, nodded, and made a note on a clipboard that she was holding. "How are you feelings?"

"Tired."

She didn't make a note this time, Naruto wondered if she hadn't written down his answer before he'd even given it. "That'll pass eventually. Any pain anywhere?"

Naruto shifted his body a little and said, "No, not really."

She scribbled something down and then nodding towards the pillow on his lap asked, "Are you, eh… recovered?"

Naruto smiled, or at least his lips shifted the way they were supposed to when forming a smile. "I'm pretty sure that waking up to you pointing and laughing at me was more than enough to help me _recover_, thanks."

Sakura gave him a rather sweet smile and in a cheerful voice said, "Always happy to help! Why don't you stand up for me?"

He did as she asked and she had him go through a series of stretches and other random movements. He had no idea what she was looking for and she never told him.

About half way through he found himself growing too frustrated with his lack of flexibility and impatient with the seeming pointlessness of it all to keep his mouth shut and said, "Sakura-chan, I'm fine. _Somehow_ I made it all through the night without injuring myself. Just let me get dressed and get me out of here."

Sakura folded her arms across her chest and gave him a withering glare as she tapped her foot.

Apparently she could accept hormones messing with his subconscious far more easily than him being willfully difficult while she was trying to work. He held her gaze for a moment, and then let out an annoyed sighed and went back to doing what she'd told him to do. Arguing would only keep him in the hospital that much longer.

When Sakura was satisfied that he wasn't about to drop dead from some previously undiscovered injury, she pointed to a small pile of clothes, most significant among them being the jacket Jiraiya had bought him, and said, "We found you an apartment already this morning. When you were… you know… Sasuke-kun got all of your stuff before any of it could be sold or thrown away. He was keeping it at his place, but a bunch of us got your new apartment set up for you this morning. You even have a cabinet full of food, including – thanks to Kiba – ramen," the way she said 'Kiba' made Naruto think that she disapproved of the food choice, "though I'd suggest you go easy on it until your digestive track is completely back to normal.

"I'll take you to the apartment as soon as Tsunade-sama says you're ready to get out of here. After that, I thought you might like to go out to eat with Sasuke-kun and I. Kakashi-sensei got in last night, he'd probably meet with us… if you want to, that is."

"Sasuke will be there?" Naruto asked, his voice a little apprehensive. There had been a strange distance between him and Sasuke since his rescue. It wasn't that Sasuke hadn't still talked to him on the trip back to Konoha, but he'd seemingly been careful to only be around when someone else was there as well. When they did talk Sasuke was a little on the cold side, not enough for it to seem terribly out of the ordinary, but Naruto was relatively certain that he wasn't just imagining it.

"Of course," Sakura replied, frowning at his question. "It's going to be a Team Seven reunion! Why do you ask like that?"

Naruto waved her question off. "It's nothing, don't worry about it. I'm still waking up, I think." He gave her a more genuine smile than the one he'd attempted earlier and then added, "Thanks, Sakura-chan."

Sakura nodded, though he could tell that she was still wondering about his question. Fortunately, she let it go. "I'll go give Tsunade-sama this report and then I'll let you know when you can check out." She gave him a sly smile and flashed a not-so-subtle look below his waist and added, "Next time you decide to have naughty dreams, wear tighter fitting underwear. Some girls aren't as understanding as me."

Naruto had never been more relieved to see Sakura walk out a door.

Unfortunately, without her there to test and/or embarrass him, he was left to think about whatever happened to come to mind. First up was, of course, Orochimaru. He hurriedly pushed those thoughts aside and flailed about for something else to think about. The next subject his mind brought to his attention was a psychoanalysis of his dream and it's possible meanings, but that too was forced to the back of his head as quickly as possible. He didn't really _want_ to know what the dream could have meant. He hoped Sakura didn't mention it to Tsunade as then it would surely get back to Jiraiya and at that point there would be no end to the humiliation.

Finally he was left with nothing but thoughts on how tired he was. The night before had probably been his worst night of sleep since being freed (which still seemed to put it at a better night's rest than he'd gotten in the two years _prior_ to being freed). He'd been alone in the hospital room, sleeping on a real bed for the first time since the night before the Chuunin Exam Finals, and it seemed that he'd done nothing but think about Orochimaru, his time with Orochimaru, his past/future with Orochimaru, and then imagining inappropriate things about his teammate, one of his best friends, and his former torturer.

Obviously, he was pretty messed up in the head.

Perverted thoughts about friends, feelings about the man whom he was certain he couldn't beat no matter how good he got, and worries about what he was going to do with this strange reality he now found himself in aside, he was exhausted and being tired left him feeling agitated and irritable. Sakura had barely left the room, but already he was annoyed that she was taking so long.

He was also annoyed with Sasuke for being weird, with Danzo for being Hokage, with himself for what he'd imagined about Sakura and Hinata, with the bed he was leaning against because it squeaked a little when he moved a certain way, and with his hair, which seemed to enjoy hanging in front of his eyes. He hadn't really looked at his body since being freed, but he was certain he was going to be annoyed with how skinny and pale he was when the time came. Most of his irritation was completely irrational, but he couldn't help it.

"Damn it," he grumbled, his hands forming fists. "Things are worse than ever and I can't fix any of it." It was a harsh truth and the more he thought about it, the angrier he felt.

Sakura had been gone for only a few minutes when there was a soft knock at the door. Naruto didn't think she would be back so quickly, but he was relieved for the distraction from his thoughts. He assumed that she'd sent a nurse in to bug him about something, probably to try to help him get dressed, as if he couldn't manage it on his own.

"Come in," he said with a resigned sigh as he sat back down on his bed. There would be no getting out of it anyway; he might as well get it over with.

Instead of a nurse, however, it was Hinata who stepped hesitantly through the door. She gave him a soft smile and asked, "A-are you okay with having visitors?"

Naruto was more than okay with Hinata visiting him, though after the dream he'd just had he felt a bit awkward about seeing her. Of course, acting awkward might cause her to wonder at the reason and that would be even worse.

He wished that his subconscious – or whatever was responsible for the dream – had some sort of physical manifestation so he could beat the crap out of it and relieve a little of his pent up frustration. As soon as he was freed from the hospital, he needed to find an empty training ground and destroy something.

In an effort to appear natural, he did his best to smile warmly to her as he raked his fingers through his hair to pull it away from his eyes. "Come on in, Hinata-chan."

As Hinata slowly crossed the room, Naruto noticed that she was partially biting her lip and her thumb on her right hand was picking at her index finger's nail. He frowned at the idea that she would be so nervous, and felt himself go on guard as his eyes shifted beyond her to the door that was still partially open.

"Naruto-kun, I… I wanted to ask you something," Hinata told him softly. "I'm not sure if it is a good idea, but perhaps it would be b-best to get it out of the way as quickly as possible… i-if you don't feel like t-taking about it, please, just say so."

Naruto gave her a curious look and said, "Okay," drawing out the word to make it clear that he didn't understand what she was talking about.

Hinata was quiet for a long moment, her face nervous and thumb still working on her fingernail. Finally she looked up at him and said, "I… I know that you and Hiroshi-san have… I know what he did to you."

"He told you?" Naruto asked, a little surprised.

"Yes."

Naruto weighed his response for a moment and then asked, "What did he tell you?"

"He said that h-he was forced to help Orochimaru. Th-that he used Juuken on you and kept your tenketsu blocked so that you c-couldn't use chakra except when they were casting genjutsu on you."

Naruto didn't know if Hiroshi had been forced, but he hadn't exactly been in any position to judge something like that. He did remember Hiroshi looking a bit thin and dirty, so it was possible that he was a prisoner as well. "Why do you want to talk to me about that?" he asked.

"I… I realize that you don't owe me anything, N-Naruto-kun, but I would like to ask a favor of you."

Naruto felt a strange feeling creeping up in his stomach. Something about the conversation seemed off to him. Hinata wasn't normally like this; she wouldn't have brought up something potentially painful or difficult while he was still in the hospital, it just wasn't her style. "Hinata-chan, you don't have to wait for me to owe you something before you ask for a favor, just ask and I'll do it."

"I don't think you will be able to forgive him yet for what he did, he doesn't either, but I… I would like you to… to let Hiroshi-san apologize to you."

Naruto felt the blood drain from his face and his stomach, strange feeling and all, drop into his feet. "No."

Her white eyes widened fractionally at the venom in his voice, but otherwise she seemed to have anticipated what he'd say. "I… sorry, of course. P-please, forgive me," she whispered quickly. "It is too soon, I… I should not have tried to hurry this. When you are ready, perha—"

"No," Naruto said with a shake of his head. "I won't _ever_ meet or talk to him." It wasn't technically true, at the moment he would have been more than happy to meet with Hiroshi so long as there were no witnesses and he was allowed to bring a few weapons with him.

"Of… of course, Naruto-kun, forgive me."

"You don't have anything to be sorry for, Hinata-chan," Naruto said quickly, "this isn't your fault." He was silent for a brief second as realization dawned on him. "He put you up to this, right? This isn't your style at all, you would have at least given me a few days back before asking me something like this. Hell, you might not ever have asked me because you would have been too worried that I'd think you were being nosy."

Before Hinata could answer, not that she needed to, the door to Naruto's room swung open and there stood the man in question. Hiroshi's eyes were downcast and his pale cheeks were crimson. "Forgive me, Naruto-san, I should not have put Hinata-sama in such a position. She cautioned against it, but I felt I should apologize to you as quickly as possible." He fell to his knees with his fists pressed against the floor as he started to bow his head. "I don't expect you to forgive me, but I—"

It was too much for Naruto. Tsunade being so completely unlike herself wasn't a complete surprise, though he didn't like seeing it. Danzo he could handle, he'd expected to see him relatively soon after returning to Konoha and had already decided what he was going to do when he "first" met him. Sakura seeing him after his body and brain had decided to rebel against everything he considered decent and normal was a bit more than he wanted to deal with, but still within the realm of acceptable. Hinata showing up was actually a nice surprise, until she'd reminded him about the sight of her and Hiroshi walking quietly with each other and talking comfortably as if they were old friends.

But having Hiroshi in his room, trying to apologize after what he'd done… or _would_ have done? No. Naruto was tired, he was annoyed, and Hiroshi's presence was beyond unacceptable.

"Get out," Naruto growled in a threatening voice laced with killer intent.

Hiroshi stopped mid-apology and looked up at him. "Of course, Naruto-san, I… I only wanted to tell you that I was sorry for what I did to you while we were—"

Something about Hiroshi's voice filled Naruto with an unquenchable rage. It probably had more to do with him finally finding someone he could lash out at and take out some of his frustrations upon, but he couldn't be sure. Truthfully, he didn't care what the reason was.

Without giving any warning and barely any thought to what he was doing, Naruto launched himself across the room. He bent down low, getting his knee close to the ground so that when he swung it forward, it caught Hiroshi in the mouth and drove him up against the wall. Naruto's hand closed around the Hyuuga's throat as blood ran down the older man's face from his mouth and nose. His right hand drew back, preparing to strike as his left hand pulled Hiroshi forward and then slammed him back into the wall.

"Leave," he said through clenched teeth, though he didn't loosen his grip to allow Hiroshi to do so.

Some part of him knew that he was being irrational. That he had far more reason to be angry with Danzo for what he'd done in the future, but having a plan – or part of one at least – had helped there. He'd run through that meeting in his head over a dozen times on the way back to Konoha. He had no such plan at the moment for dealing with Hiroshi and that, coupled with his fatigue and probably some psychological issues stemming from his captivity, made him overly irritable and allowed his instincts and – perhaps – inner fears to take control.

He'd wanted to destroy something and now just such a something was in front of him. Hiroshi wasn't the head of the Hyuuga clan at the moment. He wasn't Hinata's husband. He was just another ninja and, so long as Naruto didn't kill him, his sleep-deprived mind could think of almost no consequences for breaking every bone in Hiroshi's face.

His fist started to move forward, but before it travelled more than a few centimeters a hand closed around his wrist and held him back.

"Naruto-kun," Hinata's voice was as quiet as ever, but there was a firmness to it that he didn't think he'd heard out of this Hinata before, "let go of Hiroshi-san. Now."

Naruto glanced over his shoulder at her and blinked in surprise at the fierce look in her eyes. His grip on Hiroshi's throat relaxed and his hand fell away. "Hinata-chan, I…"

Hinata shook her head. "There is no need to apologize to me, Naruto-kun. This was my f-fault. I knew that you would not be ready yet, I should h-have explained that better to Hiroshi-san."

Naruto closed his eyes. He could hear, or thought he could hear, disappointment in her voice and it stung. Even still, he couldn't help but turn back to Hiroshi and feel the anger rise in his chest again. He leaned forward until his mouth was next to Hiroshi's ear and whispered, "Don't think I don't know what you're playing at. I won't let you get away with it."

As Naruto stepped back, Hiroshi shook his head. "I don't know what you are talking about, Naruto-san. I only wanted to come here to apologize for my part in what Orochimaru did to you, nothing more. I am sorry that I asked Hinata-sama to help me. She was right, I should have waited, but I did not want you to think that I only felt sorry for my actions after we had returned to the village. I have been ashamed of what I was doing from the very beginning… but I am a weak man, I was willing to do almost anything to escape the torture. I hope that someday you will be able to find it in your heart to forgive me."

Naruto stared at him, long and hard, and Hiroshi's didn't look away. Much as he hated to admit it, the man looked sincere. Naruto didn't believe him, of course, but he _looked_ sincere.

With a grumbled curse, Naruto stepped away from the Hyuuga and turned back towards his bed. He heard the door open as Hiroshi left, but turned before Hinata could follow him. "Hinata-chan?"

She paused at the door. "Yes, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto looked off to the side and bit his lip. "Be… be careful around him, okay? He's not… just be careful."

Hinata didn't look like she understood. "Hiroshi-san is not the monster you think he is, Naruto-kun. Someday, I hope you can see that."

Naruto wanted to tell her that she was wrong. He wanted to tell her that he didn't really care about what Hiroshi had done for Orochimaru. Having his tenketsu closed wasn't all that different from being drugged, and was probably better for him in the long run. Unfortunately, what he hated most about Hiroshi had nothing to do with anything that he had actually done… not in this timeline anyway.

Fair or not, he couldn't forgive him for what he would have done in the future, for what he might be trying to do by getting friendly with Hinata now.

ooo

"Tsunade was most upset at the idea that you plan to send Naruto up against Yugito. Jiraiya was hardly pleased to hear of it either," Koharu told Danzo as she and Homura sat across from the new Hokage in his office. "I have to agree with them, it makes no sense to send him into battle before he's recovered. He'd be a liability at best and if he's killed, we'll have lost our only hope of matching Kumo's jinchuriki."

Danzo shook his head. Instinct told him to keep his plans hidden, but he needed Koharu and Homura's support within the Council. As students of the First Hokage and teammates of the Third, they could influence key outcomes that he needed. He would never tell them everything, of course, but he had to be a little more open with them than he might otherwise be.

"Did she seem protective of him at all?" he asked.

Koharu frowned, not sure where he was going with the question. "I suppose," she admitted. "Tsunade definitely didn't seem to want him exposed to pointless danger."

"He agreed to follow my orders," Danzo said, appearing to absent-mindedly rub his thumb against the handle of his cane as he stared off into space, though in truth he was very careful observing them and noting their reactions. "He'll fight, if I tell him to. Or at least that's what he'd have me believe."

"The ninja of this village will always obey the Hokage," Homura replied quickly, "but that doesn't mean that you should send a mere boy, weak as he is at the moment, up against a seasoned ninja like Yugito. Even before Naruto was kidnapped, he'd only been on one C-rank mission, the rest were just D-rank. You can't expect him to do anything but die when he fights her."

"How closely have either of you looked at Uzumaki Naruto's records?" Danzo asked calmly.

"I've never had a reason to look," Koharu admitted. Homura nodded in agreement.

"You saw him fight the Kazekage's children, though, correct?"

Homura had. Koharu had been elsewhere in the village mediating a dispute during the Finals of the Chuunin Exam.

"Then you know that his power isn't that of a genin or even chuunin."

"Power and experience are two different things," Homura pointed out.

"Power is enough for now. He only needs to draw her attention for a short while."

"He's bait?" Koharu asked.

Danzo smiled and glanced up at the pictures hanging on the wall above his desk, his eyes centering on the portrait of Senju Hashirama, the First Hokage. "For multiple targets."

ooo

Sakura returned shortly after Hinata and Hiroshi left and informed Naruto that he needed to get dressed because he was being discharged under the conditions that he come back if he felt any of a whole long list of symptoms that she rattled off and he promptly forgot. Soon, she was leading him as he walked very slowly through the village while they made their way towards his new apartment. Most of the villagers had probably just about forgotten him or just didn't recognize him with his long hair. Whatever the reason, they didn't seem to look at him the way they had before he'd been kidnapped. Strangely, a few even smiled at him or gave him small nods. It was the sort of reaction that he'd gotten in the future, but not one that he'd seen since waking in the past.

Still, many seemed to be whispering about and smiling at Sakura more than him. It took him a moment to understand why this would be, but then he overheard the words "Tsunade-hime's apprentice" and then the reason was clear. Though Tsunade had been out of the village for a long time prior to her return, there were few who didn't either know who she was or at least know someone who could clue them in. As her apprentice, Sakura had probably been seen with Tsunade quite frequently. It was no wonder that she'd taken on a bit of her master's mystique in the process.

After only a few minutes walk, Sakura had pointed at a moderately large building and said, "This is it."

Naruto looked up at the building and nodded slowly. The outside was in good repair, the wood boards that made up the walls were painted red and white with few visible chips, and the roof seemed to be decently well cared for with no shingles missing. It didn't mean the inside would be nice, but chances were that if the owner bothered to work this hard on the exterior, the interior wouldn't be too shabby either.

They entered the building, made their way up a flight of stairs, and then down the narrow halls that most Konoha apartment buildings seemed to have due to the ninja residents' tendency to use the windows as entrances to their homes. A few meters down the hall, they stopped in front of a green door with the number 245 neatly painted in gold on the frame.

Sakura pulled out a key and handed it to him. "I hope you like it. It's not the biggest, but it seemed cozy to me… if you don't like it, you can stay with my parents and _I'll_ take it."

"I'm sure it will be fine," Naruto replied with a small smile as he opened the door and stepped inside.

It was a little different than his first apartment and, of course, not the same as the one he'd lived in after he'd returned from training with Jiraiya, but it was nice. The rooms were small, but comfortable. There was the typical kitchen area with a small table just large enough to fit two comfortably or four if everyone held their plate while they ate. The living room area had a green couch that Naruto immediately realized was not one that he had ever owned and the bedroom was separate from the rest. Through the open door he could see the foot of what seemed to be a nice bed with sheets and blankets already on it, the crisp folding of the corners looked similar to the kind he was used to seeing on hospital beds. He suspected Sakura had been the one to make it (or perhaps she just oversaw the effort and made Sasuke do it _right_).

"Sasuke-kun said that your old couch kind of smelled and some of your furniture was a bit cracked and broken in places. He still has it if you want any of it, but we pooled our money and got you some new stuff." Sakura walked across the living room area and picked a large plant off of a small table. "I took care of your plant for you, watered it everyday I was in town and all that. You should be proud of me, it's the first plant I've ever managed to keep alive for so long." She paused for a second and then sheepishly added, "Ino might have helped, a little."

Naruto felt his vision blur and he quickly looked at the ground and rubbed furiously at his eyes. "Thank you, Sakura-chan, this is… thank you."

Sakura beamed at him and put the plant back on the table. "What are friends for, right?" She walked back to him and wrapped her arms around him, holding him tightly. "It's good to have you back," she whispered. After a moment she stepped back and said, "I'm supposed to be on duty at the hospital until noon, but if you want company until lunch, I might be able to get Ino to cover for me."

Naruto shook his head. "No, I've got something I need to do before lunch anyway. Jiraiya will be with me."

Sakura's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "You aren't going to start training or anything dumb like that, are you? If I see you back in the hospital before my shift is over, I'm not going to be happy about it."

"No, no training yet," Naruto said as he shook his head, though his right hand rose behind his back and his fingers crossed each other, just in case. "We're just going to hang out for a bit."

"I'd have thought that after riding the whole way back from the Earth Country on his back, you'd be a bit sick of him," Sakura replied, winking and sticking out her tongue playfully.

"Well, I'm sick of his back, that's for sure."

"Alright, Sasuke and I will meet you here and then we'll go to lunch, okay?"

Naruto nodded, one of his almost-smiles on his lips. "I wouldn't miss it."

ooo

The room was immense and only dimly lit by the faint blue-green light that emanated from the dozens of small glass cylinders that lined the walls and the much larger one that dominated the center. Mist seemed to cling to the floor and walls, drifting lazily down from the tubes that extended from pipes and larger tubes along the walls and ceiling and also connected the smaller containers with the larger one. Between the light and the mist, it was almost impossible to see anything in the room other than the containers.

Karin considered asking why Orochimaru had chosen to bring them to this particular hideout and this particular room, but knew that it was a pointless question. Orochimaru would either tell her or she would find out soon enough. Besides, it wasn't her place to question him or his plan.

He walked slowly around the room, glancing a each of the smaller containers as he searched for whatever it was that he wanted.

Finally, he reached the center of the room and stopped, looking up at the tube in front of him. In the blue-green light, his pale face looked unnaturally sickly, but his eyes seemed to dance as he stood and stared patiently at the tube.

"You've come to see me," a voice called from within what looked like an empty container. "I think I'm honored that you remembered me."

"I doubt that, but it doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is that I have need of your power, Suigetsu-kun," Orochimaru replied calmly.

Karin scowled. She really hated Suigetsu. Of all of Orochimaru's test subjects that she'd observed or worked on, he was the one that irritated her the most. She didn't really know what it was about him that rubbed her the wrong way outside of just "everything," but she found herself wishing that Orochimaru was just planning on destroying Suigetsu.

However, it wasn't her place to question this decision either.

"Oh, how nice," Suigetsu replied from within the tube. "And I suppose that I'm just going to let you use me, right?"

Orochimaru smiled. "Yes."

He pressed a series of buttons on the side of the tube and stepped back as it opened along a seam, spilling its liquid contents onto the stone floor. The liquid smelled of stale water, Karin thought, though she knew that it was actually water mixed with a number of chemicals that altered and increased the ability of Suigetsu's that interested Orochimaru most.

In the center of the pool of liquid, a shape began to form. At first, it retained the appearance of the liquid from which it came, but as it rose higher and higher, it took on its own coloring. A head of light blue hair was the first to take on its true coloring, but eventually the shape revealed itself to be a young man. It looked almost as if Suigetsu was climbing out of a deep body of water rather than a small puddle of the floor. He slowly stood, naked and completely unashamed, and looked at Orochimaru with disinterested eyes.

"Sorry, I don't like being used," he said. His eyes drifted past Orochimaru to Karin and Juugo, and his lips parted in a smile, revealing a line of pointy white teeth. "Plus, I don't like the little party you've brought with you."

"I didn't ask you to like them or if you enjoyed being used," Orochimaru replied calmly. "You _will_ come and I _will_ use you and in the end, you might get something that you want out of it… or I might kill you."

"Hmm, tempting offer, but no."

"You haven't heard the offer yet," Orochimaru told him. "I plan on going on a little trip. Along the way, you'll have a shot at getting some of the things you want."

"And what might that be?"

"The swords of the Seven Mist Swordsmen."

Suddenly, Suigetsu was a different person. His dislike of Orochimaru was still there, but he was now highly interested in what was being said. "What do you mean?"

Orochimaru flashed a triumphant smile. "That _is_ what you desire, isn't it?"

"Who told you about that?"

"That is none of your concern. I am offering something you want, you would be wise to take it. If you don't…" In the blink of an eye, he was behind Suigetsu, a syringe in his hands. "…I can put you back in your cage, close the door, and forget about you."

Suigetsu didn't shrink away from the tip of the needle that was at his neck, but he also didn't do anything to provoke Orochimaru into using it. "If I get a chance to get those swords, I'll come, but…" his body disolved into liquid and reformed behind Orochimaru, who had already turned his head towards it and was smiling, "if I get the chance to kill you, I will."

Orochimaru chuckled ominously and flicked his wrist in the direction of the tube that Suigetsu had been held within. The syringe imbedded itself almost all the way through the glass. "I've seen your future, Suigetsu-kun. I'm not worried."

ooo

Naruto actually didn't have any plans to meet with Jiraiya, but it was probably a safe bet that his godfather would find him soon enough. If he didn't, that was fine too. Naruto wasn't sure if he wanted the distractions that always seemed to come with Jiraiya's presence or not.

He wasn't sure why he chose the training site he did, probably just a feeling of nostalgia. He stood in front of the three posts and stared at the middle one. Once upon a time, he'd been tied to it while his new teammates walked off, pretending to leave him. Kakashi had returned shortly after to untie him, and had even apologized – though it was a rather insincere apology – for "forgetting" about him.

Jiraiya had told him that when he'd taken a similar test, the Third had done the same thing to him. It was some sort of weird tradition.

This time around, the tradition had been broken. Naruto had freed Sakura before Kakashi had returned and she'd been allowed to walk off with them after they'd become Team Seven.

A broken tradition…

A broken timeline…

A broken life…

Naruto's hand curled into a fist. He hadn't meant to, but in a way he'd brought everything different that had happened down on everyone. The war, the Third's illness, Danzo's ascension to Hokage, Tsunade's screwed up view of the world, and who knew how many other troubles… he'd brought them all on his friends.

With a growl of rage he slammed his hand into the log and felt a satisfying crunch of wood and an equally satisfying surge of pain radiating from his hand.

He held his fist up to his eyes and watched blood dribble between his knuckles and down his fingers. His eyes shifted to the post. There was a large dent in it, but other than that it was fine. That was a problem.

The way he'd felt when he swung, he should have turned it into splinters.

He wasn't strong enough anymore.

Had he ever really been strong enough?

Naruto unzipped his jacket and shrugged it off, letting it fall on the dry grass as he looked down at his stomach. The Kyuubi's chakra had been cut off from him for a long time. That chakra had always been with him in the past, even when he didn't actually tap into its source, the chakra itself forced his body to get used to larger and larger amounts of energy. His body absorbed and converted the demon chakra into his own chakra, giving him far more stamina than anyone else he'd ever met. Without even using the Kyuubi's chakra, he could as a child produce more shadow clones than Kakashi.

But that large chakra reserve ultimately came back to Kyuubi. Without the demons chakra mixing with his own and being converted by his body into his own chakra, his supply was far more limited. He needed that power back.

Naruto lifted his shirt and channeled chakra, watching as the seal became visible. Two four elephant seals, allowing the Kyuubi's chakra through, but protecting him from a full possession so long as he was careful and the seal didn't wear out. On top of that, however, was the Five Elements Seal. The odd numbered seal on top of the even numbered seal created a total barrier that prevented the Kyuubi's chakra from combining with his own.

He opened his hand and pushed chakra into his fingers, preparing the Gogyou Kaiin. He had a feeling that it was going to hurt when he did this.

He'd wanted to do it as soon as he was free and able to move about, but in his weakened state and with everyone around, he'd been reluctant to call attention to the seal on his stomach. He had every intention of telling his friends all about the Kyuubi as soon as he was a little rested and in the right frame of mind to do so, but on the road with enemies possibly all around them just wasn't the right time or place to do so. They _would_ need to know and soon, but he had to be ready to tell them.

Maybe when he felt back to normal…

"Barely back in the village and already doing something weird, I see," a familiar voice called out from behind him.

Naruto spun around, his heart pounding as his hands came together. He'd been so wrapped up in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed the presence behind him.

Kakashi's fingers closed around his hands, preventing them from forming any seals. His one visible eye was only half open, the same as always, and his face seemed completely relaxed behind his mask. He held Naruto's gaze for a moment and then said, "Yo."

Naruto let out a sigh of relief. "Kakashi-sensei…"

"I thought I might run into you here," he said as he released Naruto's hands, "I was coming anyway, but I stayed a little longer than normal in case you'd stop by." His eye looked Naruto over from head to toe. "You look pretty good, all things considered."

Naruto tried to smile, but didn't pull it off.

"But not completely good, I see," Kakashi added softly.

"I just need some time to get used to… to get back to normal."

Kakashi shook his head. "There's no going back to normal."

Naruto sighed and pulled his hair out of his face. "I know…"

Kakashi was silent for a moment and then asked, "What were you doing a second ago?"

Naruto looked at his hand and then down at his stomach. In the future, Kakashi had been the one to tell him that he was stronger when he didn't rely on the Kyuubi's power. He wasn't sure that he totally believed that, there were definitely advantages that Kyuubi gave him that he couldn't reproduce on his own, but it had been nice to hear at the time. A part of him wondered if Kakashi wouldn't try to talk him out of undoing Orochimaru's seal, but he knew it didn't matter. Kakashi might advice against it, but he wouldn't stop Naruto from doing it.

So he explained what had happened. How he had gone two years without the Kyuubi's chakra, being either chained to a wall or having his tenketsu pressed so he couldn't use any unsealing methods until he'd all but forgotten to try. After months and months of torture, it was one of those things that almost seemed to slip his mind. Even if he had recalled it, the only times he had a chance to actually try to unseal himself was when he was under genjutsu and those were hardly the times to be trying to wield chakra in a way that required such relatively delicate control.

Kakashi listened quietly and then said, "You shouldn't do this."

Naruto rolled his eyes, annoyed. "I know, Kakashi-sensei. I'm way stronger without the Kyuubi and I shouldn't use it as a crutch, but—"

"That's not it at all," Kakashi cut him off. "If he'd wanted to, the Fourth Could have sealed the Kyuubi inside you in a way that kept its chakra from mixing with yours. Since he didn't do that, he obviously meant for you to have some access to it. What I mean is that you shouldn't do this without anyone around to help you. You don't know what will happen when you remove that seal. At the very least, Tsunade should be here and you should have gotten either Jiraiya or myself in case you need to close things off again."

Naruto frowned, when he'd first woken up after being rescued, he'd considered the possibility that the sudden rush of chakra might be too much to take. In his frustrated and sleep deprived state, he'd partially forgotten those concerns. Still, he suspected he might have a decent idea for dealing with it, but it probably wouldn't have been a bad idea to have someone around to help, just in case.

He lifted his shirt and channeled chakra, making the seal visible again. "Can you do it?" he asked. "I can unseal it, but if things go bad…"

Kakashi lowered his head and closely examined the Five Elements seal. "It's very clean," he commented, "I don't know if I could reapply it that smoothly, but I know the seal."

Naruto shrugged, "I don't think it has to be pretty, it just has to work."

"Wouldn't it be better to have Tsunade-hime or at least Sakura around?"

Naruto's fingers glowed once more as he prepared to unseal himself. "Tsunade-baachan wouldn't care and I don't want to worry Sakura-chan. It'll be fine."

Before Kakashi could offer another objection, Naruto drove his hand into his stomach. His fingers pressed against the seals that Orochimaru had put in place and dissolved them. He braced himself for the pain that he assumed might come, but nothing seemed to happen.

He stood up a little straighter and gave Kakashi a confused look… and then his whole world melted away as a crushing weight slammed into him, driving him to his knees and knocking the air from his lungs as every nerve in his body flared in agony at the fire that rushed through his veins, burning him from the inside out. Nothing he'd ever experienced even came close to the pain he was in. None of Orochimaru's tortures, none of his injuries in the future or the past, nothing.

It was like he was on fire… while drowning… and being electrocuted… and being crushed all at the same time.

Naruto wanted to beg Kakashi to reapply the seal, but he couldn't remember how to talk. He wanted to kill himself, but he couldn't remember how to move. He just stood there, or maybe he was lying down – he couldn't remember to how tell the difference – and was swallowed up by the agony. He wasn't even sure if he was screaming or not.

He'd had a plan, at some point in the distant forgotten past, to deal with what he'd assumed was a worst case scenario, but he couldn't remember what it was. It probably had something to do with moving and talking and he didn't know how to do those things anymore.

The pain was unending. He couldn't tell if it had been a few seconds or a hundred years. Time was nothing in the face of this sort of pain. There was no escape. He couldn't even remember what it was like to not feel pain…

Kakashi's fingers hit his stomach and Naruto finally let out the breath that he'd been holding for the past several seconds as he stared straight ahead without blinking, his mouth hanging open.

At first, Kakashi had thought that the unsealing had not had any effect as Naruto neither made any noise nor did anything other than fall to his knees. It wasn't until he asked Naruto how he felt and got no response that he realized that Naruto had basically passed out on his feet. His brain was incapable of sending any information to his body, but all of the chakra running through the body was keeping it upright. With the Five Elements seal back in place, Naruto fell forward, not even moving to stop his fall.

Kakashi knelt next to him and pressed his fingers against the blond's throat. He'd feared that he would find no pulse, but found instead that Naruto's heart was beating so fast and hard that it seemed like his blood vessels were going to burst.

Enough was enough, Kakashi knew there were others in the village who would know far better than he how to deal with something like this. He reached down and started to lift Naruto into his arms, already plotting the quickest path to the hospital.

"D..o…n'…t," Naruto whispered. "I'm… fi…ne…"

It was such an absurd lie that it actually caused Kakashi to stop and stare.

Naruto drew in a deep breath and then quickly brought his hand up to his mouth as he let out a thick, wet cough. When he pulled his hand away, it was covered in blood. He quickly closed it into a fist and turned it over to hid what had happened, but Kakashi was no fool.

"We're taking you to the hospital," he said.

"Please, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto whispered softly. "I can't go back there yet. Please. I know my own body, I'm okay."

"You were so not okay your body couldn't even react to what you were feeling," Kakashi pointed out.

Naruto tried to smile and failed miserably. "I was caught a little off guard, that's all." He shifted his weight and pushed his feet onto the ground. Kakashi slowly loosened his grip and Naruto stood, a little unsteadily, but under his own power. "One more time."

"No."

Naruto didn't argue. His fingers glowed and then pressed against his stomach.

He knew what was coming now, so it wasn't so bad. It was still overwhelmingly painful, but not so overwhelming that he couldn't remember what he was supposed to do. It was almost like the difference between accidentally touching a hot pan and doing so on purpose. If it was an accident, the body took over and jerked the hand away without any conscious thought. If it was done on purpose, however, and the mind was focused on ignoring the pain, it was possible to hold your hand to the pan until your flesh cooked. It probably took about the same amount of stupidity to willingly hold cook a hand with a hot pan as it did to willingly unseal a bottle of energy that was so overwhelming it literally burned you from the inside out.

Naruto slowly brought his hands up to his chest, held them together and whispered, "Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu."

Roughly five hundred clones filled the area, some crowded along the ground and others up in the trees. They each dropped to one knee and gasped for air as the real Naruto unsteadily rose to his feet and let out a slow breath. The pain was still there, but it was more of a dull ache than an overwhelming flood that couldn't be stopped. With each of the clone taking a share of the Kyuubi's chakra, the pain was manageable.

Kakashi looked around and then turned back to Naruto. "This was your plan?"

Naruto actually smiled this time. "Sure, just diffuse it enough until I can take it. I'm just glad this many was enough, I don't know if I could make anymore at the moment."

"So what now?"

Naruto took several deep slow breaths and then said, "Now I start building up my tolerance." He pointed at a group of clones in some nearby trees and said, "You guys first."

The clones nodded, almost looking relieved, and then vanished into a cloud of smoke. The real Naruto and the remaining clones gasped as the increased energy hit them. Naruto's hands closed into fists and the muscles in his thin arms flexed as he struggled to deal with the pain for a moment. Five minutes later, his breathing returned to normal.

"This is going to take longer than I though," he admitted.

"What's going to take longer than you thought?" a new voiced answered. Naruto spun around and found Sasuke standing behind him, his hands in his pockets and a strange expression on his face.

"Uh," Naruto glanced pleadingly at Kakashi, hoping that the jounin would have a good explanation for all of the clones standing around looking like they were ready to collapse as they struggled to reign in the Kyuubi's chakra.

Kakashi looked as calm as ever. "He knows, Naruto."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Since when?"

"The day you were kidnapped," Sasuke replied with a small smirk. "Rin told us after we'd chased her down."

"Rin…" Naruto honestly hadn't thought of her in over a year. The first few weeks he'd wished that he could get his hands on her for what she'd done to him, but after a while it just hadn't mattered anymore. "Damn, I didn't want you to find out like that."

"Then you should have told me earlier," Sasuke replied. "It's not that big of a deal."

Naruto sighed. "Yeah, I guess not." He glanced over his shoulder and pointed at another group of clones who promptly released themselves, causing the rest of the Narutos to groan. "Who else knows?"

"Just Sakura, as far as I know," Sasuke told him, "but I imagine that a lot of the others will figure it out. There had to be a reason for Orochimaru to go through so much trouble to get you, after all."

Something in the way Sasuke said that last sentence made Naruto think that there was more that he wanted to say, but was unwilling to. Whether it was because Kakashi was there or just because Sasuke really didn't think it should be spoken was hard to say, but Naruto was certain that he wasn't imagining it.

That question brought up thoughts of Sasuke's distance during the trip back to Konoha. Naruto wasn't sure what was going on, but he wanted to figure it out and quickly. Unfortunately – he nodded to another group of clones and was against struck by a surge of energy that took his breath away – he didn't have the time or energy to worry about it at the moment. He had to get himself to whatever would pass for normal, at least as far as his body was concerned, as quickly as possible. Sasuke's weirdness would have to wait until then.

"Sakura's going to be mad if we're late," Kakashi noted.

Naruto found it somewhat funny that Kakashi would talk about being late, but he was too tired and preoccupied by the painful energy moving through him to mention it. "Can we go to Ichiraku?" he asked instead.

Sasuke frowned. "Ichiraku?"

Naruto shrugged, "I haven't had ramen in two years, what do you expect?"

"No, it's not that it's just…" he looked away and then said, "Let's just go meet Sakura. She's better at this sort of thing."

Naruto felt a sudden surge of trepidation. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Sakura will tell you" was all Sasuke would say on the matter.

"You two go on ahead," Kakashi told them, his mask shifting in what was probably an apologetic smile. "I have someone to go see."

Sasuke's evasiveness vanished and he openly glared at Kakashi. "You're doing that again?" he growled.

Kakashi didn't flinch at the tone of his student's voice. "I know you don't understand," he replied, "but promises are important to me."

"It depends on what the promise is," Sasuke spat. "I think in this case, you ought to let it go."  
"I know, you've told me," Kakashi said calmly. "But in this case, your opinion doesn't really matter much. If I don't make it in time for lunch, tell Sakura that I'm sorry."

"Tell her yourself. You'll deserve what she gives you… and the person you ought to be apologizing to is Naruto."

Kakashi winced a little at that, his first real sign of caring since he started on this rather vague – at least to Naruto – subject. Before Naruto could ask what was going on, Kakashi was gone and Sasuke was already walking away.

Naruto turned to the remaining clones, still probably about four hundred strong, and said, "Twenty of you every ten minutes unless we all feel like we can't take anymore." The clones nodded and then Naruto hurried to catch up to Sasuke.

ooo

Kakashi nodded to the cloaked and masked man at the door, whispered a password, and then waited patiently as the door was unlocked. It opened with a sharp squeak of metal rubbing against metal and, after he'd stepped inside, slammed shut again. His one eye roamed the darkened room for a moment before settling in on the lone figure inside, sitting in the corner, staring at the wall and tracing a thin finger along a small crack in the stone.

"Naruto has been rescued," he said softly.

"Good for him," a deadened voice replied.

"He looks like he hasn't eaten in two years."

"Good for him."

"I didn't tell him you were still alive."

"So?"

Kakashi took a step towards the figure and then stopped and shook his head. "If Obito was here…"

She turned her face towards him. "Obito is dead!" she hissed, finally reacting.

Kakashi nodded. "Obito was dead before you betrayed Konoha, that didn't stop you."

Rin scowled and turned back towards the wall. "I could have brought him back."

"And it only would have cost us sensei's son."

"He's a monster."

Kakashi sighed and reached up and tapped the hitai-ate covering his Sharingan. "I'm glad Obito can't see you like this."

"That eye of yours isn't Obito."

"No, but when he gave it to me, he said that it would let him see the future. It might only be symbolic, but I'd rather not take the chance of letting any of Obito see you like this."

"Go away, Kakashi," Rin sighed. "I'd rather neither of you see me this way."

Kakashi shook his head and leaned against the door. "No. I promised I'd watch over you and that's what I'll do."

She'd gone back to slowly tracing the crack in the stone. "You also told me that you hated me… you claimed you were going to kill me all those years ago. You have a funny way of picking and choosing which promises you keep and which you break."

Kakashi was silent for a long time. She was right, he had said all of those things, and at the time he'd meant them, but she wasn't a threat now and it was harder to hate her, even after everything she'd done. He wasn't about to forgive her, but he couldn't keep hating her.

It was just too easy to start justifying her actions. Grief had made her susceptible to Orochimaru's manipulations. Blind hope had allowed her to rationalize something that she would otherwise have known was wrong. And, most importantly, his own neglect had allowed those two things to come into existence in the first place. If he'd been better about keeping his promise to Obito. If he'd stayed with her, kept her safe, she wouldn't have turned out like this.

"You're so predictable," she chuckled, still not looking at him. "Obito dies, so you go to the monument almost everyday and make yourself late as a punishment. I betray the village, so you come to my cell almost everyday so you can pretend that you are serving my prison sentence with me." Her eyes shifted towards him and then returned to the crack as she shook her head. "If I'd known you were such a masochist, I probably would have fallen in love with Obito instead… better the loveable idiot than the beautiful bastard, right?"

Kakashi nodded. "If I could do it all over, I would have made sure that you fell in love with Obito also. He would have done a better job being your friend."

ooo

Sakura gave Naruto and Sasuke a funny look when she saw the two of them walking together. The look became one of annoyance when her eyes shifted to the road they were travelling on and no doubt calculated where it led if followed far enough back. Since neither Sasuke nor Naruto lived in the direction there were travelling from, Sakura was quick to realize what might have happened.

"You were at the training grounds," she groaned, shaking her head at Naruto.

"I wasn't really training," Naruto protested, a little afraid that he might be ordered back to the hospital.

"So you were just sightseeing?"

"He was at _that_ training grounds," Sasuke supplied.

Sakura frowned in confusion and then realization dawned on her as a small smile spread across her lips. "Oh… I understand. I guess I should have expected you to go there."

"Sensei was with him. I'm sure they didn't do anything more strenuous than staring at the monument and the posts."

Sakura looked Sasuke in the eyes for a moment and bit her lip. "You're not a good liar," she said at last, "but I'll let it slide." She turned back to Naruto, who was relieved to see that he wasn't going to be sent back to the hospital to be reexamined in case he'd injured himself, and said, "Where should we go?"

Naruto glanced at Sasuke, still thinking of the way he'd reacted to the name 'Ichiraku' and said, "I want ramen."

Sakura winced. "Oh, Naruto… I'm… I'm sorry. Didn't they tell you?"  
"Tell me what?"  
She let out a slow breath and then said, "Maybe you should see it for yourself, but… Ichiraku isn't… it closed down."

Naruto's eyes widened. "No."

Sakura shook her head. "Come on, I'll show you."

A few minutes later, they were standing in front of the restaurant. Naruto stared at the dilapidated building in horror. Cobwebs, a thick layer of dust, chipped paint, even a few loose boards that had been warped by time and the elements. It was a nightmare! Worse than a nightmare! He couldn't even bring himself to think about what it could mean to the timeline – not that _that_ mattered anymore – or what he would do with himself during diner hours anytime he was in the village.

"How?" he whispered.

Sakura made a slightly funny face and brought her hand up to her mouth, biting lightly on her thumb.

"It was the bet Teuchi made," Sasuke supplied for her, his voice even and calm. "When you didn't win the Chuunin Exam, he lost everything."

Naruto was having trouble breathing now. He felt like his heart was being squeezed by a python.

Sakura snorted, turning her head and putting her hand to her mouth. The building seemed to flicker for a second.

Naruto frowned, looked at her suspiciously and then turned back to the building. Something was wrong. He brought his hand up in font of his chest. "Kai!"

The genjutsu vanished instantly, revealing a perfectly maintained and even busy Ichiraku Ramen Bar.

Sakura burst into laughter, relieved that she no longer had to hold it in to keep up the joke. "We got you!" she laughed.

Naruto was about to yell something back, but at that moment some of his clones released themselves and a surge of the Kyuubi's chakra struck him. His hands curled into fists and his muscles tensed as he tried to keep from crying out in pain. After a few seconds, his body managed to adjust, mostly. He closed his eyes, letting out a slow breath. When it was over, he looked at her, shook his head and said, "You're buying."

Sakura threw her arm over his shoulder, still chuckling. "Of course, this is a celebration! Sasuke-kun and I wouldn't let you pay even if you wanted to… plus, I'm pretty sure you don't have any money at the moment."

Now it was Naruto's turn to smile. "Well, being impoverished, I suppose I have to milk this free meal for all it's worth."

Sakura's face went serious for a second. "I better not catch you overeating. After what you went through, that wouldn't be a good idea yet… hell, it's not ever a good idea."

"I worked up an appetite while I was with Sasuke and Kakashi-sensei," Naruto told her, earning himself a disapproving glare. He raised his hands defensively, shaking his head. "We weren't training… it was just really stimulating… er, conversation… sort of…" He looked pleadingly at Sasuke and said, "Tell her I'm telling the truth."

Sasuke sighed and rolled his eyes at him at the exact moment that Sakura did the same. In spite of himself, Naruto found that to be hilarious. His laughter wasn't what it had once been, but it was enough to bring a smile to Sakura's face and a smirk to Sasuke's as they entered the ramen stand and greeted Teuchi.

Three hours and nearly fifteen bowls of ramen later, Sakura and Sasuke were staring at empty wallets and wishing it was possible to travel back in time and warn themselves about treating a hungry Naruto to free ramen.

ooo

The day had unarguably been the most pleasant one he'd had in two years. Of course, given what he'd been doing the last two years, that wasn't exactly hard. Still, as Naruto laid down in his new bed and stared up at his new ceiling, he was actually feeling pretty good. Not great, but… happy, so long as he didn't think about anything other that Sakura and Sasuke and the day they'd spent together. If his mind drifted to memories of the past, Tsunade, Danzo, Hiroshi, the state of the world, or his own weakness and ineptitude, the happiness was quick to slip away, but so long as he could stay focused on that one topic, he felt good.

He also felt extremely tired. His clones were still slowly vanishing, but most of them were gone now and his body seemed to be adjusting more and more quickly to the foreign chakra that kept surging into it. It was hard to say for sure since he had neither Hyuuga eyes nor medic-nin skills to check, but he suspected that the Kyuubi's healing factor was beginning to kick in, causing his underused chakra coils to heal more quickly after they were strained by the larger than normal quantities of chakra running through him.

So confident was he, that he felt ready to let the rest of the clones vanish. He created a new clone and then had it instantly dispel itself. A few seconds later, the fifty remaining clones that were still hanging out at the training grounds also disappeared, flooding him with memories of boredom and lots of chakra.

Naruto let out a gasp, his eyes widening, and then found himself standing in a puddle of water.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" the Kyuubi's voice boomed through the tunnel as its large face rose up behind the bars. "Looks like you're having some personality issues."

o

o

A/N: Well, there you go. It was mostly a filler chapter, but Naruto getting unsealed was pretty important, so not _all_ filler. Speaking of which, what did you all think about that? I didn't want it to be something that had absolutely no adverse effects on him, but I also couldn't have Naruto running around as a pansy for the rest of the story so it couldn't be _too_ hard to get over. Hopefully Naruto's solution felt like a legit way of doing things.

Anyway, this might be the first "character" chapter that I've ever written that ended with a cliffhanger. Not very nice, but it was the place where the chapter needed to end…

I think by the end of the next chapter, we'll start getting to the point were there will be a bit of action. For those of you wanting to see Sasuke and Naruto actually talk, it's coming. Next chapter for sure.

On a related note, the next chapter won't be coming out in two weeks (which would be about the 24th of April), instead it will be coming out in THREE weeks (the 1st of May). This is because school is starting to overwhelm me and I just need that one extra week to get through the rest of the spring semester. After that, smooth sailing until vacations start messing with my schedule again.

Thanks for reading. Please review and let me know what you thought.

245 – for those of you who missed it, and I'd be surprised if anyone actually understood the significance without going and looking it up, Naruto's room number is the same number as the manga chapter in which he and Jiraiya returned to Konoha after the time skip.

Gogyou Kaiin – "Five Elements Unseal" Used to, obviously, unseal the Five Elements Seal.


	8. Answers

Chapter 7: Answers

o

The Kyuubi's words rumbled through the tunnel, echoing softly as they faded into the distance. Naruto frowned up at the gate and the glowing eyes beyond it and then lifted his hand to point an accusing finger at it as the words "Stop saying confusing things" reached the tip of his tongue.

The faint jingling of metal stopped the words from going any farther. His eyes focused on his hands and then narrowed. A rusty metal shackle was around his wrist, its corroded surface darkened further with the stains of dried blood. From the shackle hung a length of chain that reached all the way into the ankle deep water at his feet. Naruto glanced at his other wrist to confirm that it was similarly bound. The shackles and chains looked similar to some of those he'd worn for all those months and years in Orochimaru's dungeon. These didn't seem to be cutting into his skin at the moment, but the appearance was basically identical.

His eyes moved from the chains to the arms holding them up and then to the rest of his body. He was naked from the waist up and nearly so from the waist down. Only the tattered remains of the orange pants he'd been wearing when he was captured covered his modesty. The left leg of the pants was little more than strips of cloth from his hip down to his knee and the right didn't even cover that much. Parts of them were burned, courtesy of one of Orochimaru's more inventive and painful torture sessions, while most of the rest were covered in blood that had accumulated over the months and years. Had he gone through everything that reduced his clothing to this in just a few days or even weeks, he would have broken or – more likely – gone insane. Even though Orochimaru had taken more time, the end result as far as Naruto's clothing was concerned was the ultimately the same, he was extremely lucky that the same couldn't be said about his mind.

Naruto squatted down, ignoring the Kyuubi's amused chuckles, and looked into the murky water. It was hard to see his reflection, but from what he could see he was not the adult Hokage he'd appeared as the previous time he'd stood before the Kyuubi. He was nothing more than a child this time, and a frail, weak, painfully skinny child at that.

"You're appearance is more fitting now, I think," the Kyuubi told him.

"No one asked you," Naruto replied, slapping his hand against the water to disrupt the reflection and then standing.

"It's a pity Orochimaru didn't just finish you off when he had the opportunity," the Kyuubi went on. "Perhaps he thought that a coward like you didn't stand a chance against him in the long run anyway."

Naruto scowled and looked down at his long yellow fingernails. He could guess why he looked the way he did, but the reason he came up with wasn't a very happy thought. Previously, when he'd appeared as his Hokage-self, that had been how he'd seen himself. In every other instance that he'd appeared before the Kyuubi, he'd always looked the way he did in the real world on a normal day. If he was fighting, his clothing was never ripped and his skin was never cut while he stood in the tunnel even if he was a bloody mess in the real world. The way he appeared in this place was his self-image, which meant that right now his self-image was that of a fifteen-year-old prisoner still in chains and so weak that a stiff breeze would probably knock him over.

He didn't like to admit that that might be how he thought of himself, but it was hard to argue with this sort of evidence.

"You have unlimited power at your fingertips," the Kyuubi went on. "Why are you so afraid to use it?"

Naruto was instantly on guard. The Kyuubi did not often speak this way and it freaked him out a little. He could handle a slightly bemused Kyuubi and he was plenty used to seeing an annoyed or angry Kyuubi, but a calm rational demon? It was _scary_.

He didn't speak often with the Kyuubi, preferring to ignore it as much as possible, but when they did speak, the demon was normally searching for some sort of weakness that it could use to overwhelm him. It grudgingly handed over its chakra, it offered to destroy his enemies, anything that might let it slip a little more through the bars of the seal.

"I haven't had a reason to use you," Naruto retorted weakly. "And when I could have used your power, I didn't have that option."

"Not in _this_ life," the fox shot back, "but in the previous? You could have fully unleashed me against Pein, but instead you chose to allow your friends to die. You could have unleashed me against Orochimaru, but instead you allowed your village to be destroyed. You are a coward. How many died because you hide from what I can give you? How often are you hurt because you won't let me protect us? How much pain do you feel because you won't open your mind to the truth?"

Naruto shook his head, trying to deny the accusations. "What truth is that?"

Kyuubi's lips pulled back in a terrifying smile and his eyes flashed with barely contained excitement. "That you need to give your heart to me. That together we can destroy everything that hurts you. We will crush those that stand in the way of your dreams." The demon lowered its head and pressed its muzzle against the bars, its eyes almost level with Naruto's. "You desire peace in the ninja world; we can obliterate those that oppose our peace. You desire to protect those you think are your friends; we can destroy all of your enemies."

Naruto pulled his hair away from his face and stared up at the Kyuubi for a long moment. His whole body shook and then he threw his head back and laughed.

Kyuubi waited patiently.

"You're a fool if you think that I want my dreams to be accomplished that way," Naruto told the fox between his dying chuckles. "Your peace is no peace at all. Your protection is meaningless. And my heart belongs to the village, not to some caged dog."

"Yet when you are hurt or in trouble, you'll turn to me and not your village or your friends."

This was true and they both knew it.

"Maybe," Naruto conceded, "but only because I can use you to keep my village and my friends safe. There's going to come a time, though, when I'll be strong enough that I don't need you anymore anyway. Then you'll just sit here, completely forgotten, and rot."

"No," Kyuubi replied with another smile, his enormous teeth shimmering with malicious light, "you'll never forget me. We both know why. You can deny it now, you can pretend to be idealistic, but you've seen what will come of this world. If it's not Orochimaru or Pein or Madara, then there will be someone else who grabs enough power that they can start taking over. This world will try to crush people like you, and you'll have to fight back. When that happens, you'll come to me again and again." A large claw pushed past through the bars and tapped the ground less than a meter from Naruto's feet, splashing him with water. "You aren't the sort who could let his friends go through what happened before. You'll do whatever it takes to try to stop it while protecting them from danger. Eventually, you'll _have_ to come to me. Eventually, you'll need my full power. And then… I'll own you."

ooo

Naruto's eyes snapped open. It was dark outside, but through the window he could see the lightening of the horizon signaling that dawn was approaching. His body was drenched in sweat and he could smell the stench of blood nearby.

He reached up to his mouth and found the source of the scent. Sticky, red blood was running down from his nose and possibly out of his mouth as well. It coated his hand almost completely and he was certain there was more still smeared across his face.

_'Sakura-chan would probably want to know about this,'_ he thought, even as he decided that it wasn't something he would tell her about. Besides the bleeding, his whole body was sore, as if he'd just finished running full speed all the way to Suna and back again while carrying a backpack full of rocks.

Sakura would definitely want to know about that as well, but she would be worried for nothing. He could tell that his body was already growing accustomed the Kyuubi's chakra. It didn't feel as natural as it had, but it wasn't causing him pain; annoying discomfort, yes, but not pain. If he was adjusting, there was no need to worry Sakura over it. His body would heal itself just fine.

Besides, he had no desire to be forced to stay in the hospital while they ran tests that would only confirm what he already knew.

He rose from his bed, noting that his sheets were stained with blood and would need to be thrown out, and walked to the window. Outside, the village was still slumbering, waiting for the start of the new day. The Kyuubi was right; he would do whatever it took to keep the village as peaceful as it looked now, even if it meant relying on the demon's power.

However, he would do everything within his own power first… and to do that, he needed to regain that power as quickly as possible.

He went to the bathroom and cleaned up his face and then walked to his dresser and looked into the top drawer. He hadn't really explored what all his friends had so generously given him the day before, and now he found it a bit humorous to see. Most was stuff that he would have picked out for himself, but there were some extra items that he was sure caused a few snickers when they were added. A shirt with an Uchiha symbol on it, a few pink and purple headbands and hair ribbons, a pair of pants that looked like they probably would fit Chouji (he assumed it was meant to inspire him to gain weight quickly), and a kunai holster with only one kunai in it as well as a slip of paper with "IOU" written in what seemed to be Kiba's handwriting.

Naruto rolled his eyes and selected a somewhat normal-looking outfit (there was a depressing lack of orange in his drawers at the moment), got dressed and leapt out his window, heading towards the training grounds. With Kyuubi's chakra back in his system, he could create plenty of shadow clones. He'd have to be careful, since he had neither Tsunade's necklace nor his temporary captain in the future, Tenzo, watching in case he needed help stopping a transformation. He didn't think it would be a problem since he didn't plan on doing anything too chakra intensive, but if it _was_ a problem, he'd be on his own.

Truth be told, he felt like he was on his own anyway.

ooo

Hinata sat quietly next to her father, carefully listening and watching as the clan elders discussed different points of family business and village concerns. These meetings were important, for it was here that she learned of what was going on politically within the village as well as how her family was doing and what was most on their minds. It still felt odd to be a part of the meetings – she'd only rarely attended prior to the Chuunin Exam two years ago – but it was nice.

Normally, anyway.

This morning, however, she couldn't seem to focus on what was going on at the moment. Her thoughts kept straying towards Hiroshi and Naruto, replaying the "fight" (if it could really be called such) that had occurred at the hospital the day before.

Hinata had known that no one would respond well to meeting with the person who had assisted in torturing them. She'd said something to that effect to Hiroshi when he'd asked for her help with the matter, but he'd been so desperate to apologize to Naruto that she'd eventually given in. Naruto was strong, after all, and she was certain that he would be willing to at least hear Hiroshi out.

She let out a silent, invisible sigh and nodded to a member of the clan who had just finished giving a report. She was glad for all of the training she'd had that allowed her to retain the formality required of these meetings without actually paying any attention. She supposed that it would be better if she _actually_ was paying attention, but at the moment this was the best she could do.

Hinata hated to admit it, but she was disappointed in how Naruto had acted. He'd been proven human when she'd been so sure that he was beyond all that. What was worse, she wasn't sure that she'd even realized how high a pedestal she'd put him on until he kicked a bowed Hiroshi in the face. She'd been shocked, horrified even, at his actions… and that wasn't fair.

After everything that Naruto had been through, how could she expect him to calmly listen to Hiroshi's apology, even if he couldn't forgive him yet? How could she expect him to be himself after two years of torture? How could she be so unfair to him and put him in that situation?

She needed to apologize, desperately, and yet the meeting just would not end.

"Hinata," her father said softly as the man she'd nodded to stepped back and returned to his mat while someone else rose to take his place and give another report, "pay attention for the next few minutes."

Hinata felt her face flush with shame, but she had enough awareness to hold herself back from begging his forgiveness at her inattention.

"Whatever you are concerned with, it will wait for a few more minutes," Hiashi continued. "Your insights may be important to the next issue that we will discuss." He lifted his head slightly, ignoring her questioning eyes, and called out, "Hiroshi-san, please enter."

ooo

Sasuke landed silently in the tree branches and knelt, peering through the leaves at the sight before him. The training area as filled with Narutos fighting each other. It didn't seem to exactly be a free-for-all, though it would be easy to mistake it as such, but rather seemed to be a sort of large scale training exercise. None of the Narutos were using anything that looked remotely like a taijutsu form that Sasuke had ever seen. Some were trying to attack while doing handstands, others while sliding along the ground, and a few were moving in a manner more befitting that of dancers than ninja.

He couldn't be sure without asking, but it seemed like Naruto was just letting the clones try things out to see what worked. Naruto had always been creative; there was probably no end to the random weird things that a whole army of him could think up.

He watched for a few more minutes and then frowned. They were all trying to hit each other, but there was a certain tentativeness to their movements.

His eyes flashed to red as he activated his Sharingan for a moment and located the real Naruto within their midst. Naruto wasn't there. Instead, he was at the training posts, punching them over and over. The post was covered in blood and his long, sweat drenched hair was covering his eyes, but Naruto didn't seem to notice as he continued to pound away.

He didn't look as tentative to Sasuke, but the way he was moving told a similar story.

Naruto was scared of something. So scared, in fact, that he practically reeked of it.

After another half hour, Naruto stepped away from the post and began fighting the remaining clones. He too seemed to be trying not to do anything that looked like taijutsu. Actually, he seemed to Sasuke to be trying to tie together some of the things his clones had been doing before. Some of it worked, most of it didn't.

When the last of the clones vanished, Naruto fell to his knees, panting for breath, his muscles trembling and sweat and blood running down his face and dripping onto the wet grass at his feet.

Sasuke didn't move to help him. Kakashi had sent him to deliver a message, something he found a bit annoying, but he was willing to put up with it as it gave him an opportunity to meet with Naruto on his own terms and with no one there to overhear him. Every other time he'd gotten to speak with Naruto, Sakura or someone else had been there. He could have gone to Naruto's apartment the night before, but Sakura had asked him to have dinner at her house and he hadn't had a good excuse to say "no." Afterwards, he'd thought that perhaps Naruto would go to sleep early since he'd looked so tired even during lunch.

When he talked to Naruto, he wanted him awake and able to answer questions.

Down below, Naruto pushed himself off the grass, and managed to mostly stand, though his breathing was still labored. A small breeze drifted through the grounds, blowing his long hair away from his face and chilling his sweat-drenched skin.

Suddenly he frowned and glanced up at a nearby tree. "I know you're there."

Sasuke couldn't help but smirk. He stood and stepped off the branch he was standing on, dropping easily to the ground and landing in a crouch. "You're rusty," he said as he stood and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Two years ago, you would have noticed me as soon as I arrived."

Naruto waved his hand dismissively, still frowning. "What do you want, Sasuke?"

"Kakashi, Sakura, and I are being sent out on a mission today; he wants you to be there when he tells us about it."

Naruto shrugged. "I can't go."

"Of course not," Sasuke replied with a roll of his eyes, "but you can still be with your teammates while they hear about the mission."

"That's it?"

The question was phrased innocently enough, but something in his tone made Sasuke think that Naruto suspected there was more. He was right. "No."

Naruto waited for a few seconds, and then sighed in annoyance. "Are you going to tell me _what else_, or do I have to guess?"

Sasuke leaned forward, resisting the urge to smile. He'd waited for this moment for several days and he hoped Naruto would give him a good reaction. Shock, surprise, something. He let the words roll slowly off his tongue as he looked his friend directly in the eyes. "Man-ge-kyo Sharingan."

"What about it?" Naruto asked, his face completely neutral and relaxed.

Sasuke did his best not to let his irritation show. It was a big secret, but Naruto apparently didn't realize just how big. He'd acted like Sasuke had just asked to borrow a kunai or something. "Who told you about it?"

Again, Naruto's face was calm, too calm really. "Orochimaru, of course. He was Itachi's partner in Akatsuki."

"And he just decided to tell you what it takes to get it?"

Naruto shrugged and pulled his sweaty hair away from his eyes, apparently disinterested in the subject, but Sasuke suspected otherwise. "Maybe he wanted me to think that even if you ever did come to save me, it would only be so you could kill me and get some fancy new eyes."

Sasuke let Naruto's answer hang in the air for a moment and then, in a calm voice, said, "You're a liar."

Naruto finally flinched, his eyes widening in shock. "That's not a very nice thing to say about your friend."

Sasuke didn't care. Naruto wasn't just lying, he was lying badly. He didn't know next to nothing about Akatsuki other than the fact that Jiraiya had mentioned them while they were sneaking into Orochimaru's lair – though he would be learning a whole lot more about it now that he knew Itachi had joined – but he knew his brother. "Itachi would never have told anyone anything about his eyes. The Mangekyo Sharingan is an Uchiha secret."

"Maybe you don't know your brother as well as you think you do," Naruto snapped, betraying his nervousness.

Sasuke pointed an accusing finger at him. "Maybe _you_ aren't as good of a liar as you think you are."

"I'm not—"

"Shut up!" Sasuke growled, losing his own cool. It was one thing for Naruto to lie to him – they were ninja after all – but to keep on doing it after he'd been obviously caught and about something as important as this? It was almost unforgiveable. For anyone other than Naruto and Sakura, it might have been _completely_ unforgiveable. "Stop lying to me. We're supposed to be friends. Why don't you don't trust me enough to give me a straight answer?"

Naruto ran his hands over his face and up through his hair. "I trust you, Sasuke," he said in a voice that was nearly pleading, "and we are friends."

For some reason, Sasuke was beginning to wonder. Part of it, he knew, was because Itachi was a sore subject to him and they'd strayed a bit close to it, but there was something more to it than that.

Without really thinking about it, he realized that this was something that had been building even before Naruto had mentioned the Mangekyo Sharingan (as well as the very specific, very secret, way of obtaining it) during the rescue mission. During the Chuunin Exam, maybe even before it, Naruto had occasionally done things that should have warranted some sort of explanation, but there had never been one. Knowing about Itachi and what he'd done. Knowing about the Sharingan without having ever been told about it. Some of the things he'd done during his tournament matches. The list was long and it didn't even include Kimimaro's accusation that Naruto was willingly leaving the village under the guise of a kidnapping in order to obtain power from Orochimaru. Sasuke doubted that Naruto would be in the condition he was in if he had actually been receiving training, but that didn't mean that he might not have left _expecting_ to get power.

No, that wasn't true, or at least he didn't think it was, not really. Naruto wasn't that sort of person. He wasn't Itachi.

But that didn't mean he wasn't lying. "We're friends, are we?" he growled, Naruto nodded. "Then tell me, how are you handling getting over everything that happened to you?"

"I don't…"

"Just answer."

Naruto's shoulders slumped in defeat. "It's hard, but I'm dealing with it." The words came out too fast to be real.

"Liar."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Naruto demanded.

Sasuke's eyes widened slightly as he stared down at Naruto. Until that moment, he'd almost forgotten how much taller he was than his teammate. "I watched you while you were training; you aren't 'handling' it."

Naruto seemed to shrink a little under his gaze and he quickly looked away, unwilling or unable to hold Sasuke's eyes. "It's only been a few days…"

"This has nothing to do with time," Sasuke hissed. "You're _afraid_, you say so every time you make a move."

"Afraid of what?"

Sasuke shrugged. "How should I know? Every time you say anything to me, you just lie."

"I'm not afraid."

It was such a weak and half-hearted retort that it almost didn't deserve a response, though Sasuke had every intention of giving him one. He let out a contemptuous snort and then said, "I watched you train, don't think that I didn't see it. Every time you or any of those clones moved, all it said was that you were scared. You've probably been here for hours, but all you've done is told anyone watching that you're a coward. So tell me what you're afraid of."

"I'm not—"

"Don't lie."

Naruto scowled angrily, still not looking up at Sasuke. "You're asking questions I can't answer!" he growled.

"Can't or _won't_?"

Naruto remained silent, his head still bowed.

"Then maybe we aren't friends."

Two years earlier, Naruto would have looked at him, his eyes furious at the accusation and his mouth already yelling his denial. This time: silence.

Sasuke gave him another few seconds and then said, "I see." He hadn't gotten his answers, but for the moment, he didn't really want them. He'd spent two years pining for a chance to save his friend, but now… He turned and said, "I'll let Kakashi and Sakura know that you aren't coming." And then he started to walk away.

"You were thirteen when you left," Naruto whispered so softly Sasuke almost thought he was imagining the voice. "Maybe fourteen, it's hard to remember. Sometime after the Chuunin Exam."

"What are you talking about?"

Naruto was looking at him again; something in the way he was holding himself had completely changed. He wasn't cowering now. Instead, he was standing with his back straight and his shoulders squared – though perhaps a little slumped – as if he'd come to a decision and was resigning himself to his fate. Sasuke had seen a similar look on prisoners of war that were about to be executed for refusing to speak.

"You want answers?" Naruto said softly, "Fine. I'll give them to you, but shut up while I'm talking. If I have to stop every five seconds, I won't finish the story and you'll have to wait until I actually feel like having this conversation… and I doubt either of us will actually live that long."

He brought his hands together and instantly more than a dozen clones were surrounding them. Without a word, each moved confidently forward, leaping into trees and moving through the underbrush.

A few seconds later, a soft birdcall was heard and Naruto started talking again. "Orochimaru can put a seal on people that… I don't know, brings out all of their power, or something. It transforms them into weird things, monsters, really."

"I've seen it. The guys who kidnapped you had them."

Naruto glared at Sasuke, annoyed at being interrupted, but let it slide. "Whatever. He put it on you during the Chuunin Exam—" Sasuke opened his mouth to object, but before he could, Naruto held up his hand and said, "If you say one word, so help me god I'll stop talking…" Sasuke closed his mouth. "Good. You were different after that. Kind of crazy. Then, after the Third died and Ero-sennin and I went and got Tsunade-baachan to be the Fifth, you were really different. At some point, you met people from Orochimaru and you left with them. I don't really remember them very well, one guy had six arms, I think, and there was a big fat guy as well. A girl, maybe? Whatever, the only one I really paid any attention to was the guy with the bones. He could pull them out, fire them out of his fingers, all sorts of weird things. He would have killed me if Lee hadn't shown up when he did.

"After that, I chased you and… we ended up fighting. You hit me with a Chidori, right here," Naruto pointed at the right side of his chest. "I pulled out more of Kyuubi's chakra than I ever have before and we fought some more. In the end, you were stronger than me… or maybe you were willing to go farther than I was. I don't know. I couldn't have brought myself to kill you and you… you would have killed me if I hadn't had the Kyuubi sealed inside me."

Naruto paused and ran his fingers through his hair, pulling the long locks away from his face as he let out a soft sigh, his blue eyes staring off into the distance as though he were looking at a distant memory. "Anyway," he whispered, "you left. Sakura and I trained really hard for two years so that we could save you. Orochimaru can get inside other people's bodies and take control of them. We knew he wanted your body, but we never… we didn't realize that you knew about it too. You just didn't care, apparently. As long as you could get strong enough to kill your brother; that was all you cared about.

"We tried to save you again, but you were different, colder – and that's saying something. And then, a little while later, we got a report that you had killed Orochimaru."

Naruto sighed and looked down at his feet, mulling over what to say next. "We thought… we thought you were going to come back to us, but you didn't, _of course_. You didn't care. The only thing that mattered was your brother. For Sakura-chan and I, saving you was just about all that we thought about, but I doubt we were anything more than a distant memory for you. We tried to find you again. We came really close, but all we ended up finding was some destroyed building and Itachi's body. You'd cut out his eyes… only, I don't think it was you anymore. It wasn't long before we got a new report. Orochimaru wasn't dead, he'd been inside of you, like a parasite, and at some point during your fight with Itachi, he'd taken control. You threw everything away to get the power you needed to kill your brother, but in the end, I doubt it was even you who got to do it. After that, he used your body to destroy everything. Konoha was the last holdout, and when I died or whatever it was that happened, the village was a burning husk of what it is now."

Sasuke couldn't hold his tongue anymore. "You aren't making any sense, dobe. None of those things happened."

Naruto's threat to stop talking had apparently been forgotten because he looked up and shook his head. "It _would_ have happened, if I hadn't changed things." He bit his chewed on his lower lip for a second and then said, "I'm not Naruto, not the Naruto you knew at the Academy anyway. To you, this is a silly story, but to me, it's history. I'm sure you noticed it. Right after we graduated I suddenly got a lot stronger, a lot better. I knew jutsu you'd never seen before. I didn't really have much trouble with Kakashi-sensei's lessons. I stopped pestering Sakura-chan, stopped acting like you were some obstacle I had to surpass to prove myself… or are you really so self centered that you didn't notice?"

"I saw it," Sasuke replied slowly, "Sakura and I even talked about it a few times, but…"

"But it's a long leap from me getting better to me being from the future?"

"Something like that."

Naruto was silent for a moment and then said, "You want to know what I'm afraid of? Fine, you're my friend, so I'll tell you. I'm scared of Orochimaru. I'm scared of what he can do to me, my friends, the village, and even the whole world. I've already lived through him taking over once; I couldn't handle it a second time."

"If you're really from the future," Sasuke replied slowly, his voice revealing that he definitely considered that point to be in doubt, "then you should be able to beat him, right? He doesn't have my body and you have all your _future-_jutsu; it should be easy."

Naruto shook his head. "You said it yourself, all that stuff I was talking about didn't happen this time, Orochimaru didn't come after you during the Chuunin Exam, he came after me. He isn't Orochimaru the way I'm not Naruto. He came back too, somehow, and he knows all that stuff that he learned in the future, plus…" his voice trailed off as he slowly looked away and closed his eyes. "…I can't beat him. He always wins… always."

Sasuke stared at his friend for a long moment and then said, "I don't believe you."

Naruto shrugged, "I don't care anymore."

"I don't mean all that talk about you being from the future… though I don't really believe that either, I mean that I don't believe that you could possibly be any sort of Naruto I've ever known." Sasuke scowled and then in a mocking imitation of Naruto's voice said, "'_I can't beat him, he's too scary.'_ I don't know who or what you are, but you aren't Naruto."

"You don't know him!" Naruto hissed. "You don't know what it was like. You didn't see—"

With a loud crack that seemed to echo across the field, Sasuke's fist connected solidly with Naruto's jaw, rocking the blonde's head back and dropping him into the grass. "Coward," Sasuke snarled, as he stood over Naruto.

In a flash, Naruto was back on his feet, his fist cocked. Sasuke saw it coming, but didn't step out of the way and Naruto's hand slammed into his face. The blow snapped his head to the side, but he didn't go down or even take as much as a step.

Sasuke slowly turned back to Naruto and spit a small trickle of blood out of his mouth. "I'm afraid to hit you," he whispered, "that's what that punch just told me."

His own fist lashed out. This time Naruto was prepared to for it and twisted away. "I'm afraid of getting hit," Sasuke labeled the dodge.

Naruto swung again, and this time Sasuke reached up and caught it, his larger hand almost completely swallowing Naruto's up as it closed around it. "I'm afraid I won't be able to protect the people I care about." With a contemptuous flick of his wrist, he pushed Naruto's fist aside. "You aren't Naruto, that much is obvious, and even if you and every other enemy out there is from the future, I don't care. You must have died during the last two years, because the Naruto I know would have laughed at you and then kicked your ass with both of his arms tied behind his back and all of his tenketsu sealed up by Hyuuga Hinata. If you don't have any resolve to keep fighting, why don't you just lie down and _die!_?"

He leaned down so that his eyes were right in front of Naruto's. Somehow or other, he was going to get through to his friend and take away his hesitation and fear. Naruto had come and shown him what it meant to have a friend, to care about people. He'd helped pull away the darkness, if only just a little. Back then, Sasuke had wanted to kill his brother and little else. Restoring his clan was just something he added to his dream to make it seem like he wasn't a monster, but the truth was that he would gladly have given up a chance at restoring the Uchiha if it meant he could kill Itachi. Naruto's fantasy of being from the future was right about that.

Naruto hadn't taken away Sasuke's desire for revenge, but the blond had tempered it enough that having friends and a family were things that he wanted now as well.

"Look at me," he growled in a low voice, his suddenly red eyes locked on Naruto's, "can you see my resolve to keep fighting? Do you see any fear there? I don't care what Orochimaru can do or where he's from, I don't care how strong my brother's gotten, I _will_ crush them and protect my friends."

For one moment, just a brief second, he let his full rage at seeing Naruto so weak bubble to the surface without being held back. It wasn't enough for him to ever act on it, but with Naruto standing so close, the killer intent would be unmistakable. Naruto's eyes widened and he seemed to shrink beneath Sasuke's Sharingan.

"Do you think," Sasuke asked in a low, dangerous voice, "I throw any punches that say 'I'm afraid to hit you' or that I ever dodge someone's attack because I'm afraid of being hit? When I attack: 'I will hit you.' When I dodge: 'I won't let you hit me.' And when I say that I'll protect someone: 'Nothing will happen to them.'"

He reached out, grabbed Naruto by his shirt and pushed him roughly to the ground. "If you really are from the future, figure out a way to go back. I'd rather have the old, dumbass Naruto than a coward like you."

Sasuke continued to stare at Naruto for a moment longer and then turned and walked away, vowing to find Kakashi and Sakura and let them know that Naruto had apparently lost his mind as well as his nerve.

Behind him, Naruto didn't move from his spot, his head bowed and his eyes closed.

ooo

"Fuki, I wish Ami was here," a young kunoichi, Kasumi, whispered as she knelt next to her friend on a thick branch. A faint breeze rustled the leaves, causing her puffy orangish hair to sway back and forth as well.

"Yeah, well, she's got her mission and we have ours," Fuki replied as she ran dirty fingers through her spiky, maroon-colored hair. She pulled, irritated, at a scarf wrapped around her neck and then turned to the third member of their party. "Is it time to move on yet, Beshikou-san?"

Beshikou didn't look at her, his dark eyes continuing to scan the forest below. Finally, he gave a small sniffle, rubbed underneath his wide nose and said, "Yeah, this area looks clear. We'll head over to sections 07 and check th—"

His voice trailed off as three people stepped out of the brush almost right beneath them and continued following a small, nearly invisible path. He watched as the small group passed by and continued along their trail without so much as pausing or glancing up at his team. Two of them were dark skinned, a man and a woman, while the third was a lighter skinned blond with a bust size that probably rivaled that of Tsunade.

The three Leaf-nin held their breath as they waited for the group to go by and then, with a small hand motion from Beshikou, Fuki and Kasumi began silently moving through the trees on either side of them. When they were in position, Beshikou held up his hand, paused for just a brief moment, and then dropped it. Both kunoichi began forming a long series of seals. It took only a few seconds for the genjutsu to be cast on the unsuspecting Cloud-nin below, but when it was done, the three stopped and looked around in confusion. Beshikou knew that they now thought they'd made a wrong turn somewhere. In a few seconds, one would come to believe that they were supposed to go one way, while the others would insist that they should be going in the opposite direction.

The confusion would be enough for him to get close enough to kill two of them with a single jutsu while the third was incapacitated for questioning. He was honest enough to admit that his plan to capture the large chested one had nothing to do with the fact that the others seemed to defer to her, though the fact that they did made for a nice excuse.

"It's obviously this way," a young man said as he pulled a red lollipop from his mouth and pointed to the east.

"Stupid, that's the complete _opposite_ of the way we should be going," the dark skinned woman growled.

Beshikou moved as silent as a wraith along the branches and then dropped down only a few meters from the group, his fingers already forming seals. He took a deep breath, brought his right hand to his mouth, and then doubled over as the light skinned woman's fist connected solidly with his stomach.

"You must think we're idiots to fall for a jutsu like that," she told him in a bored voice as the other two members of the group suddenly seemed to disappear. There were cries of shock and suddenly both Fuki and Kasumi where thrown from their trees.

Beshikou gritted his teeth and stood straight. Things were not looking good. Neither Fuki nor Kasumi were great toe-to-toe fighters. One of the reasons they were a part of the team was that he could deal out – and take – plenty of damage while they could cause distractions and create opportunities for the team to either escape or finish off their opponents while they were scouting the area around Konoha for Cloud-nin and enemy supply lines. He'd worked with them and others like them for the better part of a year; they'd even got into situations similar to this, but the three Cloud-nin standing before them seemed different from those others.

"Don't worry," the dark skinned man told him with a distracted voice, "we aren't going to kill all of you. Of course, we don't know which one to let live, so you'll probably have to argue about that… I don't think it's good for the soul to argue right before you die."

"Seriously, Omoi, shut up," the dark skinned woman grumbled. "You're making it sound more complicated than it is."

Omoi shrugged and then frowned as he turned his head and looked up into a tree.

"You can come out," the large chested woman said. "We've known you were there the whole time."

"Our apologies," a man said as he and another ninja dropped from the branches and landed in a crouch just behind the Cloud-nin. Upon their foreheads, they wore Otogakure hitai-ate. Both were almost completely covered in camouflage, except for the masks they wore across their faces, which were white like those some medic-nin sported. "Orochimaru-sama asked us to help our allies in your preparations for the coming battle. We were merely waiting for an opportunity, such as this one, to make our presence known to you."

"Anyone could say they were working with someone else," Omoi said as he flipped his lollipop to the other side of his mouth, "it's not like it would be hard to steal a hitai-ate, or those clothes, or learn a few names, or…"

"Omoi!"

"He's right, Karui," the lead female told the dark skinned woman. She turned to the two supposed Oto-nin and asked, "What proof do you have that you are who you say you are?"

The first member of that group reached up and grabbed his shirt by the collar, pulling it aside to reveal a small marking on his neck. "I trust you know what this is?"

"Samui," Karui said in a hushed voice, "that's one of Orochimaru's curse seals."

Samui nodded. "Alright, what do you want?"

The Sound-nin glanced at each other and then looked past the Cloud-nin to Beshikou and his teammates. "We'll take care of them for you. You don't want to be late."

Beshikou looked at Fuki and Kasumi and mouthed the words, "Get ready to run." Whatever they'd stumbled across, the info needed to get back to Konoha. Normally it was the two kunoichi who had the job of creating distractions, but they wouldn't stand a chance of even slowing any of their enemies down, let alone buying him enough time to alert the village.

Besides, in the end, he was the man and the oldest. They were just starting their lives. He couldn't think of a much better way to go than saving two young girls.

The two kunoichi leapt to their feet and sprinted into the woods, heading for Konoha as Beshikou reached into his pouch and pulled out a kunai with an exploding tag attached to it. He threw it at the ground right in the center of the group of enemies and then leapt back as the explosion ripped through the forest.

While still in the air, he began forming seals. He landed and started to place his hand on the ground to use his most powerful earth jutsu, but before he could reach it, pain seared through his arm and blood splashed the ground and all around him as his arm was severed at the elbow.

"Sorry," Omoi said softly as he twirled a sword idly between his fingers, "but we don't want to be late. Yugito-san gets really angry sometimes and if we're late, she'll probably stomp on my toes and then I'll be limping when we attack Konoha and everyone will make fun of me."

Two loud thumps off to his left caused just enough noise to pull his attention away from his arm and over to Fuki and Kasumi who were laying at the feet of Samui and Karui. In the end, his distraction hadn't been enough.

"They're all yours," Samui said as she turned back towards the path her team had been using, signaling Omoi and Karui to follow.

The Sound-nin waited until the three were gone and then turned to Beshikou and his team. Beshikou had already lost enough blood to start going into serious shock. He doubted he'd last all that much longer unless he could find some way to make a tourniquet for his arm. With only one hand, he couldn't do it himself, but unfortunately, no one else seemed to be in any shape to help.

"Don't worry," the Sound-nin said, "we won't kill all of you. Like our allies said, we'll leave one of you alive to send a message."

In the end, Beshikou didn't need a tourniquet after all.

ooo

Hinata listened in silence as Hiroshi recounted everything that had happened to him. He told about the battle in which he'd been captured, how his teammates had died valiantly, but were simply unable to overcome their enemy's numerical advantage. He didn't address the issue at first, but when pressed for details, he admitted to killing somewhere in the neighborhood of a dozen enemy ninja before finally being knocked unconscious. Even then, he felt the need to point out that his teammates had done far better considering they didn't have a Byakugan as he did.

The clan elders had accepted his praise of his companions' bravery with barely a nod before instructing him to continue with his story.

From there Hiroshi's story was less detailed simply because his days had all been so similar that it was hard for him to recall what had happened first or how long any of it had really gone on. He told of the different torture techniques and gave a few, almost anecdotal, stories of escape attempts that he had both led and followed along with. After each had ended with yet another brutal torture session, he confessed that he'd stopped trying and resigned himself to his fate.

He was forced to pause when he reached the point in his story where he'd broken under the torture and had accepted his new role in Orochimaru's base. His shoulders shook slightly as he struggled to maintain his composure, but when he looked back up, his voice was calm and even, the very picture of a model Hyuuga.

A few questions were asked, during this period of his report, but mostly he was allowed to speak without interruption as he explained how he would close up the tenketsu of some of the other prisoners so that they could not escape or fight back. He focused heavily on Naruto, describing what was being done to him and telling of his hatred of his role in the torture, even confessing that he'd considered suicide on more than one occasion.

When asked why he had not killed himself by one of the younger elders, a question that actually drew a few raised eyebrows from the more senior members, Hiroshi bowed his head and said, "It would not have changed anything for Naruto-san. All that my death would have accomplished would be to give my soul some peace and Orochimaru my eyes to implant in another. I thought that so long as I was the one closing his tenketsu, at least I would know that it was being done properly and not in a way that would cause any permanent damage to him."

After he finished telling of his rescue and return to Konoha, Hiroshi sat silently, his head bowed, and waited for their response. All eyes turned towards Hiashi. Rather than answer, he turned his gaze to Hinata, and gave her a nod that told her he wanted her to speak first.

Hinata's eyes widened fractionally as she realized what he was doing. In meetings such as this, it was considered an honor to be the first to speak. Generally, those first few words were considered unchangeable. He was letting her decide what would be done with Hiroshi.

She swallowed hard and said, "You have endured much, Hiroshi-san, and acted in the best interest of the clan in so far as you were able during that difficult time. Y-your feelings concerning your actions towards Uzumaki Naruto are understandable, but you did what you thought best when placed in a nearly impossible situation."

Hinata knew what she was supposed to say at that point, but couldn't bring herself to do it. She was supposed to tell him that he'd acted honorably or that he his actions were acceptable in the eyes of the clan. To say either, however, would be to excuse his actions towards Naruto, and that was something she couldn't do. She could understand, even forgive him (in so much as she had the right to forgive him for something that didn't really concern her), but she couldn't commend him.

"I-if you feel that you have acted dishonorably in your actions during that time, you will have to find some way to make reparations to bring yourself peace. I do not believe that your deeds warrant any disciplinary action on the part of the clan."

The elders in the room waited for a moment to see if Hiashi would disagree with her or add anything, but when he did not, they began to give their own opinions, always careful to agree – or at least _appear_ to agree – with Hinata's. In truth, she could tell that they all felt that she hadn't gone far enough. They'd wanted to hear her commend Hiroshi for protecting the clan's kekkei genkai. Few if any of them cared about what that protection had cost Naruto and, to a much lesser extent, Hiroshi.

Throughout the rest of the meeting, as Hiroshi was told by one elder after another that he'd acted honorably and had no reason to feel bad for his actions, his eyes remained on Hinata's. She couldn't tell what he was thinking; she'd always been worse at reading members of her own clan than she was at reading everyone else, but he didn't seem upset. If she'd had to guess, she would have said that he was thankful for her refusal to totally excuse his actions even as she reminded him that there were extenuating circumstances.

If nothing else, she hoped that he would come away from the meeting able to forgive himself to some degree. She doubted it would be something that would come quickly, but perhaps when he'd reached that point, he would be more ready to ask Naruto for forgiveness.

And maybe enough time would have passed that Naruto wouldn't try to kill him the second he saw him.

As the meeting was concluded and all the formalities were given to those who deserved them, Hinata found herself longing to go and see Naruto once again. Hiroshi's debriefing had been a decent distraction from her thoughts on him, but now that it was over, she felt the almost unquenchable desire to go throw herself at Naruto's feet and beg his forgiveness for her part in the hospital incident the previous day as well as for holding him to an impossibly high standard.

Once the meeting was over, she started to hurry from the room, but was stopped by the sound of Hiroshi's voice. "Hinata-sama?"

She did her best not to sigh in annoyance. Such an act would be rude and completely uncalled for. "Yes, Hiroshi-san?"

"I wanted to thank you," he told her with a small smile. "Your words were… too kind, but you did not tell me I'd acted acceptably. Too many have said that to me, and I am glad that you are not one of them. It is hard being around people who see you as other than you know you are. I feel, sometimes, that you see more of the truth about me than anyone else in the clan."

Hinata wasn't sure what to say, so she said nothing.

"I…" Hiroshi's voice trailed off as he suddenly looked more nervous than Hinata had ever thought she'd seen him before. "I was wondering if you would like… if you would _permit_ me to take you to dinner tonight." He smiled awkwardly and then said, "I haven't made much money in the past year or so, but my parents have been kind enough to lend me some until I am considered recovered enough to return to active duty."

Hinata tried to hide her surprise and was certain that she'd failed miserably. He was probably only trying to repay her for what he seemed to think was a kindness in her refusal to commend him for his actions while in captivity. He'd said that it was hard being around people who didn't see him as he saw himself and that she came closer than the others, but it still sounded like he was asking her on a date. No one had ever really done that before. Naruto had asked her to have ramen with him so they could talk, but when she'd replayed that conversation over and over in her head during the weeks and months after it, she'd begun to suspect that he'd really just wanted to know more about her, probably to see if she was someone worth training. They'd eaten together on several occasions after that, but none of those had been mistakable as dates either.

Whatever the dinners with Naruto had been, this was definitely more like a date. "H-Hiroshi-san, I… I…" She really had no reason to say no. In fact, she wasn't totally certain that she _wanted_ to say no. "Um, yes, that would be… nice."

Hiroshi smiled and bowed respectfully to her. "I will come calling this evening, then."

Hinata turned and walked away in a semi-daze, her cheeks strangely warm.

ooo

"If you have something to say, just say it," Naruto whispered without looking up from the spot Sasuke had left him.

Jiraiya seemed to materialize out of thin air only a few meters away. "I thought for sure I'd snuck by those clones in the trees," he said with a slightly annoyed smile.

"You did," Naruto replied with a small smile, "but I know that jutsu too well to be fooled by that jutsu… plus, you could probably use a bath."

"I imagine this is another one of those 'I learned it in the future' things?"

"Yeah. I had to either learn it, or get killed every time you found a bathhouse that struck your fancy."

Jiraiya grinned at that, but apparently couldn't think of anything else to say as he walked over and sat down next to Naruto. The two of them sat in silence for several minutes with only the rustling wind in the leaves and the occasional call of a bird to break it.

Finally Jiraiya rubbed the bottom of his nose and asked, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"About what?"

"Anything."

"Not really."

Again silence fell upon them and again it was Jiraiya who broke it. "I was captured once, did I ever tell you?"

"Yeah."

The older ninja sighed and rolled his eyes. "Pretend that I didn't."

Naruto shrugged and began pulling at some grass near his leg.

"It wasn't anything as bad as what you went through, of course, but it was hard. The feeling of weakness, helplessness… it's a tough thing to overcome. I was just a chuunin at the time, not really any older than you. When I came back, the Third made me take time off. That really pissed me off, more than it should have. He told me that I needed to get my confidence back and remember why it is that I fight."

Naruto nodded dutifully and asked, "How did that go?"

Jiraiya smiled. "I nearly got myself killed peeking on Tsunade in a bathhouse, of course. Nothing raises confidence or inspires courage like some beautiful b—"

"Please don't start talking about Baachan's chest," Naruto groaned, "I really couldn't handle that at the moment."

Jiraiya chuckled and shook his head, obviously thinking that Naruto was missing out. "Perhaps someone more your age then. Sakura-chan seems to be a very… _healthy_ young lady."

"Even worse," Naruto sighed. "Now you're talking about little kids."

"She isn't a little kid to you."

"Of course she is. I'm closer to forty than she is to twenty… I think."

Jiraiya reached over and smacked Naruto on the back of the head. "What are you talking about, dumbass? You're barely fifteen."

"Not in my head."

"Nobody cares about your head," Jiraiya said with a sigh. "Geez, do you really think that? What were you going to do when you got older and wanted to start have… adult relationships?"

Naruto scowled. "I wasn't really planning on having _adult_ relationships."

Jiraiya shook his head in dismay. "No wonder you're so messed up. You're completely divorced from the rest of the village now. At least when you were still the original you, before the old you came back, you could aspire to having normal relationships with people. What do you have now?"

Finally, Naruto looked up at him. His eyes angry and his lips turned down in a frown. "I don't have to have date or have sex to have 'normal relationships,'" he pointed out, "I'm okay with just being friends with the kids that are supposedly my age."

"You think you have normal relationships with them?" Jiraiya laughed. "How did you ever make it through more than a day as Hokage? You don't know the first thing about anything!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata, all the others, they aren't your friends. They might _think_ they're your friends, but you don't think that, not really. To you, they've just been projects. Fix this person, fix that person, make sure Sasuke isn't a total ass… how is any of that being a friend?"

"I was _helping_ them! That's what friends do."

"Of course, but that's not what you were really doing. You were trying to run their lives for them. You knew what Sasuke could have become, so you acted out a plan to get him on a different path, very noble and all, but not really friendship. If you'd come to the conclusion that what Sasuke really needed was to never see you again, you'd have left without a second thought. You didn't need him, you weren't really his friend. You've been the same with everyone else, I'm sure."

Naruto thought this over for a moment and had to grudgingly concede that Jiraiya might have been right. He wasn't willing to admit that he wasn't really Sasuke or Sakura or anyone else's friend, but an argument could be made that he was more of a handler and a trainer than a friend. Sure, they enjoyed some laughs and had fun, but how often had he done those things in a calculated effort to get them where he thought they needed to be?

"Well, what else was I supposed to do?" he growled, irritated.

"You're a kid again," Jiraiya said with a smile. "Enjoy it as much as you can. Don't worry about acting like the Hokage or a teacher; that's not your job right now. Don't worry about what happened in the past. Your future won't happen anymore so nothing you knew really matters all that much. Just relax a little and be the fifteen-year-old that you are."

"I don't know how to do that anymore," Naruto replied with a sigh.

Jiraiya reached over, mussed the blonde's hair, and said, "You can start by getting a haircut and putting some weight on those bones of yours. Even if you wanted to, I doubt any of those cute girls you hang out with would go for a scrawny little guy like you!"

"Great," Naruto groaned, "I'm getting dating advice from a super pervert, this is just what I need."

Jiraiya chuckled and looked up at the morning sun. "Fine, no more advice on girls. I'm sure you'll muddle through somehow; Minato pulled it off, so you'll figure it out eventually."

Naruto considered asking about that, but before he could, Jiraiya reached into his pocket and pulled something out, holding it in his fist in front of Naruto's face and then dropping it in the blonde's lap. Naruto looked down at the sparkling object and his eyes widened.

It was Tsunade's necklace.

"What the hell is this?"

"You know what it is."

"Yeah, but… why?"

"She said, 'He seems like the sort who could make use of it,'" Jiraiya replied with a strange smile. "I don't know what you said to her, but I think she likes you more than me at this point."

"All I did was piss her off," Naruto objected.

"You'll have to ask her about her reasons, but I'm sure something you said got to her. I guess it really should have been you who went to find her before the Chuunin Exam. Things might have gone better for everyone if you had."

Naruto scoffed, but couldn't really argue. "Yeah, maybe."

"_Maybe_? With just a few words, you got her to willingly hand over something she hasn't been willing to part with since Dan died. Not only that, but she said she was going to participate in the war. Do you have any idea how much you managed in the last few days?"

"She said that?"

"Actually, she said that she'd 'be damned if she was going to let the Fourth's son turn into another one of those mindless zombies Danzo uses.' I got the impression that she didn't really think much of the way you acted when you met our new Hokage."

Naruto cringed. "Yeah. The timing there wasn't great. I need Danzo to trust me or I get the feeling that I'll be walking around with ANBU guards watching me the whole time. If I want to keep helping people," he looked up and caught Jiraiya's glare, "I _know_, that's not my job, but it doesn't mean I don't want to help when I can. Anyway, if I want to be able to… have normal, _real_, friendships," Jiraiya smiled approvingly, "then I can't be constantly being watched like that. Plus," Naruto paused and chose his words carefully, "Danzo _is_ the Hokage. Even if I don't like him, I have to respect his position. Not everyone liked me either, but that didn't mean they were allowed to be openly disrespectful."

"You know, I don't think I've met anyone who cared so much about the name Hokage since your father was around," Jiraiya said with a chuckle as he reached up and ruffled Naruto's hair once more. "It's kind of funny that you two never met, but you still have so much in common. I guess it was just good breeding, eh?"

"Right."

"Well," Jiraiya said as he stood and stretched, "when the shit hits the fan, I'll be there too. You might be an annoying little pain in the ass who thinks he has to run everyone's lives for them, but it'll be interesting to see how you turn out."

"You know," Naruto said, looking up at him, "this is probably what Danzo wanted. He told me I'd have to fight Yujeto, or whatever her name is, right in front of Tsunade-baa-chan just to get a rise out of her. I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't trying to use me to get two of the Sannin to fight in the war."

Jiraiya shrugged. "Of course that's what he was doing. We both know it, or I do anyway. Tsunade probably figured it out after she stopped ranting about how stupid it was. It doesn't matter. He'll make you fight, if you let him, even if we don't back you up. At least this way, you'll stand a chance of surviving."

"I see your confidence in me is as high as ever."

"Well, that Gaara kid didn't kill you, despite your best efforts. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt for now. If you can live through these last two years, you can probably make it through anything with a little help. Besides, I promised the Third that I'd help turn you into a proper Hokage."

Naruto was certain he didn't want to talk or about him becoming a proper Hokage. He'd done a terrible job of taking care of everyone so far, he wasn't sure that he'd ever be the sort who would make a good Hokage at this point. There was, however, something that needed to be said. Jiraiya needed to know what he was really up against. Naruto had no doubt that it wouldn't really change anything for Jiraiya, but it needed to be said before the old man started promising to help him out in his coming battles or anything like that.

"Ero-sennin, Orochimaru… he, he's like me."

"What do you mean?"

"He came back, too… from the future I mean. That's why he went after me and not Sasuke during the Chuunin Exam."

Jiraiya took the news surprisingly well. Naruto had expected at least a shocked look or a gasp or something. Instead, what he got was, "Hmm, that explains some things."

"It does?"

"When I went to get Tsunade, we got jumped by this guy… I wasn't sure what to make of him. He seemed weak, but he knew jutsu that really threw me off. It wasn't like he was strong enough or good enough to really hurt me or anything, but he seemed to expect a lot of the jutsu I used and knew how to counter them. It took a lot longer to beat him than it should have. That seems like the sort of distraction Orochimaru would use, but he wouldn't have really had a reason to go after Tsunade and I. We'd spent years distancing ourselves from Konoha and each other. It wouldn't have been totally surprising for him to try to take us out, just in case, but it seemed kind of suspicious that he went about it like that. If he really wanted us dead, he would have sent someone stronger or come himself rather than just sending someone who could only delay us for a little while."

Naruto nodded. "I guess I should have been more aggressive about fixing things when I first woke up in the past. If I'd left the village and found you…"

"You'd be a missing-nin and almost completely worthless to the village, if they hadn't sent someone out to track you down and kill you," Jiraiya finished for him. "You did the best you could with what you knew."

"Maybe," Naruto had to concede. It still felt like he should have done something to fix the past, but he hadn't really been able to think of anything else that he could have done when he first arrived in the past and even now he couldn't really think of anything he could have done with what he'd known back then. The situation had just been too weird.

Jiraiya patted him on the shoulder and turned to leave. "Don't worry, we'll get through the war and then we'll handle Orochimaru. It'll work out."

Naruto wasn't so sure, but he did his best to smile and nod anyway.

ooo

Hinata was nervous, possibly more nervous than she'd been in her life. Well, that wasn't really true, but it felt true. She was certain that she'd been more nervous on plenty of other occasions, often involving the person she was on her way to see, but this was certainly the most nervous she'd been in the past few days. She was, after all, about to go and see Naruto for the first time since she'd helped Hiroshi ambush him in a very poorly conceived and executed attempt to allow Hiroshi to apologize. _That_ confrontation had ended with Hiroshi bleeding, Hinata forcing Naruto to stop, and Naruto looking very upset.

How exactly was she supposed to apologize for putting him through something like that?

Hinata dragged her feet down the hall as she made her way towards his apartment and then stopped in front of his door. She took a deep breath, prepared herself for the worst, and knocked softly.

"It's open," Naruto called out from within.

She hesitated for a brief second and then entered the apartment. It looked just the same as it had when she'd helped Sasuke, Sakura, and some of their other classmates decorate it for him while he was in the hospital barely forty-eight hours earlier, but for some reason it seemed very different now. It wasn't just an apartment anymore; it was Naruto's home. It had even started to smell a little like him.

She tried not to be too obvious as she inhaled deeply.

Naruto was standing at the far end of the room, his back to her, working on something. He glanced over his shoulder at her and smiled, though the haunted look that had been in his eyes since he was brought back still remained.

Hinata let out a sigh of relief. A small part of her had been preparing for him to yell and tell her to leave. She gave him a small smile in return and then took off her shoes before fully entering his apartment. Naruto waved her over as he went back to whatever it was that he was doing.

"Y-you're new place looks nice," she told him as she walked over to where he was standing.

Naruto looked up and then glanced around the room, as if noticing it for the first time. "Yeah, I guess it does, doesn't it? You, Sakura, and Ino probably had a lot to do with that." He turned and handed her a small plate with two pieces of bread stacked on top of each other and then cut in half. "Here, try this."  
Hinata looked at the bread curiously and then picked up one of the triangles. There was something between them, but she couldn't see what it was. The smell wasn't familiar.

"Just stick in your mouth," Naruto told her, brushing his hair away from his eyes and trying to tuck it back behind his ears.

Hinata obeyed quickly, not wanting to seem rude. She chewed automatically at first and then her eyes widened slightly. It was delicious! Ignoring her manners, she set the plate down on the counter and peeled open the bread. One slice had been smeared with a strange brown substance that probably what was causing her tongue to occasionally stick to the roof of her mouth. The other had globs of purple jelly that smelled like grapes.

"Peanut butter and jelly," Naruto supplied, frowning slightly as the hair escaped and fell back in front of his eyes.

"It's wonderful," Hinata told him, taking another bite. She'd heard of peanut butter, but had never had it before. Jelly was a little more common in the kitchen in her home, but even that wasn't something that she often ate.

She moved to hand him the plate with the other half of the sandwich on it, but he shook his head as he reached for the kettle on the stove and poured the steaming water into a styrofoam cup of instant ramen.

"Naruto-kun, I… I didn't mean to take your…"

"I hate that stuff," Naruto chuckled. His laughter had once been such a natural and pleasant sound, but now it almost seemed as though his body had forgotten how to make it. "Peanut butter is gross if you ask me."

"Th-then why were you making it?"

"I figured you'd be by pretty soon."

Hinata thought about asking him about that, but decided against it. It had been two years, but in the past, Naruto had proven to know her pretty well. After the disaster at the hospital yesterday morning, it probably wasn't hard for him to figure out that she would be coming to apologize. Though how he'd known that she'd be coming at this moment was another matter. "You didn't have to make food for me."

Naruto shrugged. "Someone bought the peanut butter for me; I figured you would enjoy it. Now, maybe, I'll be able to talk you into taking it with you when you leave."

"W-what if I hadn't liked it?"  
Naruto gave her a strange look, his blue eyes seeming to look right through her. "I know you better than almost anyone… I knew you'd like it." He was quiet for a while he slurped his noodles and then added, "If you share it with Hanabi, go light on the jelly. Don't bother giving any to Neji; he'll think it's as gross as I do."

Hinata took another bite of her sandwich, frowning thoughtfully.

"You should stay away from him," Naruto told her after a minute or two of silence.

"Who?"

"Hiroshi." The way he growled the name clenched teeth, made it sound like a curse word.

Hinata bit her lip, wondering if she dared to speak the rebuttal that was tickling her tongue at that very moment. Naruto did, after all, have a very understandable reason for feeling bitter towards Hiroshi, but at the same time, Hiroshi hadn't _wanted_ to do what he was made to do. They were both prisoners, both being tortured. The fact that Hiroshi wasn't as strong as Naruto was no fault of his; very few people were.

"Naruto-kun, I am… so sorry about yesterday morning. I should not have allowed that to happen, much less helped. I t-thought that perhaps you would be able to at least hear him out, but I shouldn't have let him talk me into it. I know you better than he does, I should have anticipated your reaction." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. It had been hard getting the apology out without stumbling over her words too much or any of the other things she tended to do when she got nervous. "I know you can't forgive him, Naruto-kun, but please remember that he… he didn't have any other choice," she whispered.

Naruto scowled, pulling his hair away from his face once more. "_I _didn't have a choice, he had plenty, but I don't really care about that. He's just not someone you should be around."

Hinata let out a slow breath, set her sandwich down and look Naruto in the eye. "Naruto-kun… Hiroshi-san was just as much a prisoner as you. The two of you went through h-horrible things, and he was forced to do things to you that made your pain worse. I understand why you hate him, but, please, don't expect me to as well. He is my frien—"

The styrofoam cup was crushed in Naruto's hand, the noodles spilled out of it and splashed on the floor at Hinata's feet. Naruto's eyes seemed to blaze as he pulled himself up to his full height and glared at Hinata. For the first time in her life, Hinata actually felt a little afraid of him.

"You don't know him the way I do!" Naruto hissed. "Stay away from him. He's dangerous."

In the past, Hinata knew she would have nodded meekly, unwilling to disagree with Naruto, especially since she'd come to see him so she could _apologize_ for what had happened at the hospital, but that wasn't her anymore. She didn't exactly meet his eyes, but she didn't shrink under from his gaze. "Y-you can't just say that, N-Naruto-kun," she whispered. "If you have a reason… please tell me, but otherwise…"

He hadn't seen her in two years and had no reason to expect her to stand up for herself the way he'd always encouraged her to in the past, but Naruto didn't seem surprised at all by her relative firmness. He was, however, clearly taken aback by her demand for a reason. "He's just… he's not _good_."

Hinata nodded slowly. "The clan elders met with him today. They w-wanted to hear what had happened to him during his captivity. He admitted everything to them. Then, when they told him that he'd acted acceptably in order to protect his kekkei genkai, he was disappointed. He… he told me that he has trouble being around many in our clan because they don't feel that what he did was as bad as he thinks it is." She paused and then said, "I don't think it was as bad a thing as he thinks it was either. I wish he hadn't done it, but he isn't as strong as you, Naruto-kun, you can hate him, you have good reason to, but please understand that I know what it feels like to be w-weak far better than you. I don't like what he did, but—"

Naruto laughed, a sharp, harsh sound that didn't seem to fit him. "You think I care about _that_? I told you, I don't care about him helping Orochimaru torture me. What he did was nothing to me."

"Then… then why do you hate him?"

Naruto sighed and looked down at his destroyed ramen cup and the noodles that had splashed all over the floor. "He just… he's just using you. He only wants to get close to you so that when it's time for them to make you the clan head, they can give him the job instead. He'll try to get together with you just so he can move up politically. He doesn't really care about you!"

Whatever Hinata had expected him to say, it wasn't this. "He… he told you this?" she asked in shock.

Naruto frowned. "Well… no."

"Then he told s-someone else who told you?"

"Not exactly."

"Then this is just something you have d-decided on your own?"

"No!" Naruto yelled, slamming his hand down on the counter. "He really is like that…"

Hinata nodded slowly. Naruto wasn't making much sense. Then, a strange thought occurred to her. "Maybe" she whispered softly, "you just think that the only reason someone would… would chose to spend time with me is so he can woo me and become the leader of the clan?"

Naruto scowled. "You know I don't think that…"

"I don't _think_ that you would feel that way," Hinata replied, "but I don't know how else you could have decided that that was the only reason Hiroshi-san would want to spend time with me." She looked down at her sandwich, suddenly not hungry despite having spent most of the day in a meeting and not eating. "If you did not come to the conclusion on your own, what made you think that he would act in such a way?"

Naruto's shoulders slumped, and he bit his lip. It looked as though he were considering whether or not he wanted to answer her question. Hinata waited patiently, though she suspected that there really wasn't an answer that he could give. After what Naruto had gone through, regardless of what he claimed his feelings about it were, it was understandable that he would be unable to trust someone like Hiroshi who had been a part of his torture. If Naruto really didn't think that she was the sort of person who would only attract men who were interested in her family status and nothing else – and she hoped that he didn't see her that way – then his accusation was probably just the result of his buried hatred of Hiroshi's actions.

Finally, Naruto shook his head and closed his eyes. "Fine. It's not my job to try to run your life for you, that's not what friends do. Just… just be careful, alright? I don't trust him."

Hinata smiled in understanding. "Th-there are a great many members of my clan who feel the same way about you."

Naruto shook his head. "Yeah well, my reasons are better than theirs."

Hinata nodded. "I… I know their reasons. You're right, you do have a better excuse."

Naruto's eyes widened slightly. "You know about…"

"Yes. My father t-told me shortly after you were kidnapped. It was… a surprise, but I still could not understand why the village treated you as it did over something like that."

Naruto grunted and brushed his hair out of his eyes. "Am I _ever_ going to get to tell someone about that and actually have them be surprised?!? It was this big secret when I was a kid, but every time I get ready to tell someone or think that they're ready to hear it, they already know!"

Hinata smiled apologetically. "Sorry, Naruto-kun."

Naruto waved his hand dismissively. "Eh, whatever. I guess it's just one less complicated story I have to explain." His hair fell down in front of his eyes once more. "Damn it!" he crossed the room and picked up a kunai holster that strangely only had one kunai in it. He grabbed a handful of bangs with one hand and cut through it in a single slice.

Hinata did her best not to giggle. He didn't look much like a girl, of course, but short (not to mention uneven) bangs and otherwise long hair, didn't exactly _enhance_ his masculinity.

As Naruto grabbed another handful of hair and prepared to give it a similar treatment, she said, "I, um, brought you a pair of scissors… for your hair. They might work better than a kunai." She reached into her pocket and pulled out the scissors, holding them out for him should he accept.

Naruto looked at the kunai in his hand and frowned. "Eh, you're probably right." He took the scissors, pulled another handful of hair away from his head and gave it much the same treatment as he had when using the kunai.

Hinata did her best not to smile. He would have been better off with the kunai if he was just going to hack away like that.

As Naruto finished making a mess out of the sides of his head, he moved on to the back, but suddenly seemed to start having trouble. Pulling his hair around to the front didn't work, but without doing so, he had to try to operate the scissors behind his head.

After two very unsuccessful attempts, he turned to her and said, "Um, sorry, but would you mind doing this for me?"

Hinata's eyes widened. She had been able to see that he needed help, but for some reason the fact that she was the only other person in the room and was, therefore, the only option to give that help had completely escaped her. "O-of course, N-Naruto-kun," she said softly as she took the scissors back as Naruto sat down in one of the chairs at his little table.

Hinata reached out with trembling fingers and brushed some of the already cut hair off of his head, trying to ignore the tingling sensation that shot through her fingertips as they slipped through his hair and gently touched his scalp. She was suddenly very aware of the fact that she was alone with Naruto in his apartment and that in many ninja families, the wife cut her husband's hair for him.

Not that her relationship with Naruto was like that, of course, but it still seemed a somewhat _intimate_ thing to do.

She began to snip at his long hair, creating a large pile of blond locks on the ground at her feet as she evened up his earlier efforts as well as took care of the remaining excessively long portions.

"Thanks for your help, Hinata-chan," Naruto said softly. "You're a good friend."

Hinata smiled and continued working, doing her best not only to keep the blush off her face, but also to keep from cutting off Naruto's ears in her nervousness.

ooo

It took a fair amount of searching, but eventually, they found the two simple graves near a large lake. Behind one of the graves, an enormous sword was stuck in the ground.

"Wow, who would have thought that Zabuza-sensei's sword would just be sitting here like this," Suigetsu said as he walked over to it and pulled it from the ground. "Heh, it's heavy, but I expected as much from the Great Beheading Sword of the Demon Zabuza of Chigiri no Sato."

Orochimaru watched as Suigetsu lifted the sword, smirking at the sight of the young ninja's arms shaking as he held it up. "Are you going to need Juugo to carry it for you?"

Suigetsu glanced at Orochimaru and smirked. Suddenly, the muscles in his arms swelled, growing much larger and more defined than they had been. With an easy one handed swing, the sword cut through the air towards Orochimaru's neck.

Orochimaru didn't so much as flinch as the blade came to a stop within millimeters of his neck.

"Heh, you really are something, aren't you?" Suigetsu chuckled. "When I'm ready to kill you, I'll have to be really careful about it. A monster like you would swallow me up in one bite the way I am now."

Orochimaru held Suigetsu's gaze for a moment longer and then glanced at Karin. "Now that we're done with this little errand, and Suigetsu has something to compensate for any 'shortcomings' he might have, our real mission starts." He smiled wickedly and said, "Find him."

Karin took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and did as she was told.

ooo

Yugito did not stomp on anyone's toes, despite Samui's team's tardiness. In fact, she barely cared that they'd come at all. Looking around the small camp, which was just like hundreds of others spread out around the area, she couldn't help but feel a small thrill run through her body. It was almost over. Perhaps once Konoha was defeated, the Raikage would let her take a vacation or something…

_'Probably not,_' she grumbled to herself. She turned and looked at Samui's team and sighed. She really didn't need them watching over her, though she supposed that it would be good to have the extra help. They were, after all, Kirabi's students.

"We got a report yesterday that Konoha has recovered the Kyuubi jinchuuriki," she told them. "That might complicate things for us, but I doubt it will be a big deal."

"Hmm," Omoi said with a frown, "if they'd remember to always put him back in the same spot, they wouldn't lose him so much. Unless, of course, they just wanted us to think that they'd lost him so they could lure us into a trap by pretending to lose the war up until now."

Yugito rolled her eyes and nodded to Karui who reached over and smacked him on the back of the head with enough force to knock his lollipop out of his mouth. Omoi looked down at it dejectedly, picked it up, and blew on it in an effort to clean some of the dirt and grass off of it. As near as Yugito could tell, his efforts had no effect, but he stuck it back in his mouth anyway.

"If I die of some weird Konoha grass-based poison, I'm going to be really mad at you," he grumbled.

Yugito rolled her eyes. The Raikage had sent her a bunch of idiots.

"Don't mind them, Yugito-san," Samui said with a yawn. "They're stupid now, but when things get going, they'll take care of anything you need them to."

Yugito nodded. "Fine, whatever. Just be ready. We should get the signal sometime tomorrow as long as everything goes according to plan."

ooo

The first real sign that something was wrong was the smoke. There were often huge dust clouds that could be seen in the desert as gusting wind started a dust storm. There were even, on rare occasions, rain storms with their large, dark, billowing clouds. There were, however, almost never any smoke clouds for the simple reason that there wasn't enough to burn to create a large cloud of smoke. In fact, aside from a small oasis or two, Gaara could think of nothing in the entire desert that could burn in a way that could create such a large column of smoke, nothing except for Sunagakure.

His home.

"Temari," he said softly.

She nodded. "I see it. It has to be Suna, there's nothing else over there."

Kankuro adjusted the strap holding up his puppet and said, "Well, what are we waiting for?"

"Nothing," Gaara replied as he lifted his hands and the sand behind them began to surge, lifting them into the air as if they were suddenly standing atop a giant wave that was just waiting for permission to start sweeping across the desert. He brought his hands forward and the wave shot forward, always keeping the three of them on top as it tumbled beneath them, propelling them across the dunes towards home.

o

o

A/N: First and foremost, a big thanks goes out to TimeShifter, who has generously agreed to be my beta and who managed to get this back to me very quickly despite it being finals week for him. Of course, I then turned around and added some stuff and made a few changes of my own, probably negating some of his hard word…

Well, there we go. More filler stuff, but with some important little pieces thrown in. I know he's a relatively new character with almost no screen time, but I hope that I got Omoi's personality right. For those of you who have no idea who he, Karui, and Samui are, go check out chapters 417 and 419 for their only scenes. Omoi's distracted, rambling musings are really funny to me, but they're also kind of hard to write. Hopefully they came out okay here.

Also, Sasuke's whole thing with Naruto about Naruto's punches saying "I'm afraid to hit you" comes from Bleach. With my new computer (and its amazing feature called "sound") I've taken to watching that anime again. I actually didn't see the episode in which Ichigo is training with Urahara and gets basically told the same thing (I was doing it from memory, so the wording was probably different), but for some reason watching it made me think of those lines. Actually, that scene was one of my favorites in the whole anime. Way back when I was first working on Naruto vs. Gaara in the Chuunin Exam, Naruto was going to say something to the effect of "Sorry for making you wait. Let me show you my resolve" which is something else that comes from that series and might even come from the same episode, I think.

Kudos to those of you who recognized it.

Those who realized that Fuki and Kasumi are canon characters deserve even more kudos (they were part of the little gang that teased Sakura as a child). Beshikou also came from canon, though he only appeared for about two seconds during the first episode when he and others were hunting for Naruto after he stole the scroll.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next one should probably start seeing more of the war (we've been sitting in something of a lull in the fighting, but I almost felt like I'd just forgotten about the war altogether). Gaara and co. will get some decent screen time and the battle of Konoha will probably start up as well. Should be fun with plenty (or a few anyway) of people dying… yay!

Please review and let me know what you thought.

Chigiri no Sato – "Blood Mist Village"


	9. Slowly Drowning

Chapter 8: Slowly Drowning

o

A/N: There is mention of someone named "Han" in this chapter. This is the five-tails' jinchuriki. The most recent Naruto art book gave us his name, so that's what I shall be using from here on out.

o

It was dark, far darker than it should have been, even in the middle of the night. Somewhere above them, the stars were shining down with what little light they could provide, but on the night of a new moon, they wouldn't have been enough even if the air wasn't choked full of smoke from the burning buildings and the usual sand that always seemed to be in the air in the desert.

Through this eerily hazy darkness, a young woman ran as though her life depended on it. Her feet were as heavy as leaden weights against the sand-covered dirt as she hobbled unevenly along through the twisting path that wound its way around the hive-like buildings of the village. Blood ran down her right arm, which was limply trailing behind her, little droplets sprinkling the sand as they fell from her fingertips. Her left leg had been impaled all the way through and her right had been sliced open as well.

She was so easy to follow, even in the dark, that it should have been considered a crime. Of course, given the amount of blood she was losing and the extent of the injuries to her legs, a judge would probably have let her off with a stern warning or some community service. Unfortunately for her, Masaru was not a judge.

He was her executioner.

His green eyes followed her silhouette in the haze, as he carefully tucked a lock of red hair behind his ear, wishing that he hadn't lost his hitai-ate in the fighting just a few minutes ago. His hair was manageable, but only when combed. Since he hated combing it, he wore a bandana-style hitai-ate to save him the hassle. It was annoying that it had been destroyed, but he supposed that keeping his head by only millimeters was a fair trade.

The young woman he was following had actually been the one to take his hitai-ate and nearly his head. The tide of the battle had separated them before he'd had a chance to show her how it was done, but now that he was on her trail, he was looking forward to paying her back for his inconvenience. Sadly, his orders were to only follow her for the moment. The few remaining Suna ninja were still putting up a decent resistance, aided by their scant numbers, knowledge of the area, and the size of the village they could hide in. The young woman with dark hair had been a part of one of the few remaining holdouts near the Kazekage's Tower when her group had been crushed. Somehow, during the confusion, she'd been injured and had started to retreat.

They almost hadn't noticed her in time, but before she'd been able to get far enough away, Masaru's commander had caught sight of her and issued the order that she be followed to see if she met up with any other groups.

Sunagakure was built like a wheel, with nine main roads leading from the outer edges to the center where the Kazekage Tower was located. These roads divided the village into its different districts and basically kept visitors from getting lost. Between the roads, however, was a tangled mess of paths that seemed to have no rhyme or reason to them as they worked their way around the hive-like buildings that the citizens of the village lived in.

In Masaru's opinion, it was rather funny that the insects from Suna lived in such appropriate dwellings.

What was not funny about it, was that the remaining Suna ninja could use the haphazardness of roads in the village they knew like the backs of their hands to ambush the victorious Rock-nin. The stupid roads were practically built – and actually, probably had _literally_ been built – for ambushing people.

One injured little girl wouldn't be worth the eight chuunin and jounin following her, but if she helped lead them to some of her friends, it would be well worth the effort.

She glanced over her shoulder, but in the dark she couldn't see the ninja hiding in the shadows of the buildings a few meters behind her. Masaru could hear her labored breathing and knew that the blood loss and fear were starting to get to her. She'd witnessed at least one massacre that night and probably more as Iwa finally made its long awaited conquest of Suna. Chances were that she hadn't been at the canyon opening that led into the village; if she had been, she would already have been dead at the "hands" of Roshi and Han. She might have been close though; there had been a lot of ninja just inside the mouth of the canyon that had managed to fall back before the bulk of Iwa's forces made it inside.

Masaru hoped, for her sake, that she hadn't been there to see her compatriots killed by those two. He'd been on the other side and even _he_ wished that he hadn't seen it. In the end, it had to be done. The Kazekage wouldn't surrender and even if he had, only an idiot would accept surrender without insuring that the enemy's capital had been subjugated. Iwagakure had long suffered the boarder raids from their weaker neighbor to the south, and if they were going to ever have peace, stability, and the influence they _deserved_ to have, they needed to shut the weakened Sunagakure down once and for all.

In the sixty plus years since the ninja villages were established, none of them had ever been conquered. There were wars, both acknowledged and secret, but those were mostly fought elsewhere. Once one side started to get close to the other's village, a peace was worked out.

There would be no treaty this time. The Tsuchikage, with the support of the Earth Country's daimyo, had declared that Suna's surrender would be complete and absolute. They would become a satellite village, practically a colony for the Earth Country and Iwa. A small portion of the money made whenever a mission was accomplished would be sent to the Earth Country and, in return, Iwa would make sure that Suna was given more missions than their foolish daimyo had been giving them. They would still be Sand-nin and citizens of the Wind Country, but there would be a new hierarchy that had to be respected.

It was, after all, the natural order of things. Iwagakure was strong, Suna wasn't. It was only right that the weak should be controlled by the strong. Masaru wasn't sure that controlling Suna was worth almost two years of war, but that wasn't his job to decide.

Up ahead, the young woman paused as she heard what sounded like the trill of a bird. She instantly changed course, limping towards what looked like the burnt remains of a tall building. It was almost at the far edge of the village, well within sight of the mountainous cliffs that served as the village walls.

Masaru made a small hand motion and the other Rock-nin pulled back, keeping her in sight, but not staying quite as close as they had been. If the noise really had been a signal, then there was a chance that there could be an ambush waiting for them if they got too close. In the smoky darkness, this didn't mean they could just get within a straight-line view of her and hold their position, but they could still pull back slightly. If nothing else, the trail of blood she was leaving on the ground would be more than enough to follow even if they lost sight of her.

When she was within about ten meters of the building, the girl suddenly vanished.

"Genjutsu," Masaru whispered to a nearby Rock-nin. "It's affecting the area, not anyone in particular. Whoever cast it is definitely jounin level… he's probably up high also." He looked up at the round-walled buildings, trying to guess which he would use if he were the sort to cast such a jutsu. "Take two others and check the roof of that building," he pointed at the one he thought was most likely. "Clockwise search from there. You know what to do if you find him."

In the dark, it was a little difficult to discern the man's expression, but Masaru could hear the smile in his voice as he said, "Yeah, I know."

It didn't take long.

One second, they were looking at what seemed for all the world to be a burnt out building; the next, the air shimmered and about fifteen Sand-nin came into sight. Some were injured, while others seemed to be fine. In the midst of them, the young woman was speaking to a tall man while a brown-haired girl did what she could to patch the first girl's wounds.

Masaru smiled. "Take them."

They broke cover with a suddenness that caught even the sentries off guard, and were amongst the group in the blink of an eye. The tall man, wearing a typical Suna headdress, with one flap covering his left eye and two red claw-like tattoos on his right cheek, was the only one who didn't seem to be caught flatfooted. He issued a barking order that made it clear he was someone used to being obeyed and charged.

The man next to Masaru died with a suddenness that made it seem like magic. In any other village, Masaru would have wondered how his companion could be cut without being touched by any visible weapon. In Suna, however, the answer was obvious. The tall man was a wind chakra user. That made things difficult, but not by much. Once you knew you were facing wind chakra, it was easier to avoid.

Especially when you were a fire type.

The Sand-nin's hands came together just as Masaru's did. They finished their seals at nearly the same time and both launched their jutsu.

In a jutsu battle, the first attack was always the most important. It was almost always the only time you could catch a decent ninja off guard. Because of this, it was important that the other person know as little about you as possible. Something like chakra nature, for example, could either save you or get you killed. Not knowing what type you were facing when you fired off your jutsu was a good way to die.

The tall man probably knew that already, but that didn't change the fact that the flames fired from Masaru's mouth were only made stronger by whatever wind jutsu he used.

The man was quick though, and before the flames could consume him, he sunk into the ground. It was probably the second worst thing he could have done. The first would have been to use another wind jutsu. Going underground when facing Rock-nin, however, was like trying to put out a fire with sake; it just wasn't going to work.

The ground around the spot where the man had vanished seemed to shatter as one of Masaru's teammates made the appropriate response to such a tactic.

The large man amazingly managed to survive the jutsu, clawing his way back to the surface a few seconds later, but the damage was done. Even in the poor light, Masaru could see that his arm was bent at a spot where it ought not be.

"Surrender," he called out as he approached his injured opponent.

"Baki-sensei!" a Sand-nin yelled, running at Masaru.

Masaru cut him down without even looking at him. His eyes remained on Baki. "Tell them all to stand down or we'll kill every last one of you."

Baki's dark eye burned with hatred as he glared up at Masaru, but the Rock-nin could see that his defiance was not of the stupid variety. His pride would hate it, but he would do the right thing.

"What the hell is that?!!!" someone yelled behind them.

Masaru kept his eyes on Baki until he saw him look as well. Once he was sure that it wasn't a trick, he chanced a glance in the direction of the speaker: a Rock-nin pointing at the sky. Masaru looked up, and his own eyes widened in shock.

Above them, above even the tall cliffs that towered over the village, a dark shape had appeared. Were they not on the edge of the village, where the smoke was the thinnest, they probably wouldn't have even seen it.

Masaru wished he'd remained where he couldn't see it.

Whatever it was, it spilled over the walls, blocking the light of the few stars that were visible in the sky, and then seemed to pause. It seemed impossible that something so large could just hang in the sky the way it was, but that was exactly what was happening.

Someone threw a kunai with an exploding tag at the object. It didn't even make it all the way up to it before exploding, but in the brief light, three objects could be seen dropping from it.

They seemed to take longer than they should have to hit the ground, but finally they landed in the middle of the crowd, miraculously not hitting anyone.

Now on the ground, the three objects were revealed to be three people, two young men and a young woman, to be exact.

No one said or did anything; both Sand and Rock just stared at the newcomers.

"Now _that_ was an entrance," the larger of the two men said with a chuckle.

"Yes, we're _amazing_, moron, except you just stood there holding your doll while the rest of us did all the work," the woman, who appeared to have blond hair, sneered as she straightened and looked around carefully.

"Argue after we're done," the third young man, little more than a boy, with hair as black as night, said as he also stood up. He turned and looked in the direction of the majority of the Rock-nin. "If you don't want to die, leave. Now."

Masaru looked back up at the object hanging above them, then at the three newcomers. His green eyes noted two important things. First, they were not looking at him, and second, they were all very young.

Powerful, given their entrance, but young enough to think so highly of their power that they became careless.

His hand dipped into his weapon's pouch and found a kunai with an exploding tag attached to it. Even if it didn't kill all three, it would surprise them and probably take at least the dark-haired one out. The confusion of losing a comrade in the explosion would be more than enough distraction for his men to take care of the other two and secure the surrender of the remaining Sand-nin.

With a flick of his wrist, the weapon shot towards the dark-haired boy.

What happened next would be replayed over and over in Masaru's mind for the rest of his life. In the blink of an eye, sand sprang up around the boy, stopping the kunai and spreading around it to contain the explosion. After that, the sand sprang forward and wrapped around him, pinning his arms and legs and covering him all the way up to his neck.

The young man still wasn't looking at him. "I'll say it again," he told the others, "those who want to live… should leave."

More sand rose up, forming what looked like a spear. Masaru's mind managed replayed everything that had gone wrong in the last three seconds twice in the time it took the spear to pass between his eyes and then out the other side of his head.

ooo

Over an hour after their grand entrance to the remains of their home, Gaara was back in the desert. He looked up at the dunes surrounding them and then back at the small group of survivors huddled next to the nearest one. There would be other survivors still in the village, but he'd told Kankuro and Temari that they were taking these and leaving for the night. It was one of the first times since they'd been exiled that he'd simply made a decision for the group and walked away as if there was nothing left to discuss.

Of course, any attack against the forces that had invaded – he hated to use the word "conquered" – Suna would require the powers he possessed as the container of Shukaku, so if he decided that he was leaving, they would have to go with him or be stuck in the same position as those they were trying to help. Still, he didn't like doing it. It felt… bad. It was the sort of thing that he'd done back when he was still in the darkness.

In this case, it was necessary, or at least he thought it was.

Seeing Suna like that, its stone buildings burning on the inside (and a few of them somehow burning on the outside as well), its citizens injured and scared… it made him mad. Too mad to control the demon. Too mad to control himself.

"We need to get out of here," someone said, his voice loud enough to draw Gaara away from his thoughts.

"Where are we going to go?" another shot back.

Gaara's eyes shifted towards the two as their argument became a series of "well what do you think we should do?" comments. Until that moment, he hadn't considered the fact that he was somewhat in charge of these people. He'd rescued them, he'd basically dragged them (somewhat against their will no less) out into the desert, and he was the one making them wait for morning. He hadn't really had a choice of what to do with them, but he found himself growing worried that they might start turning to him for answers.

He looked past them to where Baki was having his arm wrapped tightly by a young kunoichi with dark hair who looked like she could use some medical attention herself. Perhaps when the others stopped fighting and started looking for someone to take charge of them, they would turn to Baki.

Eyes began to shift towards him and he knew that Baki would not be the one looked to for leadership at this point.

"You're Gaara, right?" an older man said. He didn't look like a ninja, but that might have been because he was old enough to be retired and had simply let himself get fat once he wasn't supposed to need to worry about fighting for his life all the time. "Why did you come back? Didn't you join Iwa?"

Gaara noted how many heads nodded at these questions and rolled his eyes. "No. Go to sleep."

"No what? No you're not Gaara or no you didn't join Iwa?"

"No, we're not going to have a conversation. Get some rest."

"You dragged us out here, we deserve something!" That opened the floodgates.

"Yeah, at least in Suna we had shelter."

"And protection from the elements."

"We should be looking for the Kazekage anyway."

"We should be looking for a new place to live."

Gaara closed his eyes, willing his irritation down. Bad as their demands were, it was worse to know that they were right. He did owe them an explanation. He also owed Temari and Kankuro an explanation for why he'd made them pull back.

"Shut up, all of you!" the kunoichi working on Baki yelled as she stood and marched over to the small crowd forming in front of Gaara. "Gaara-sama saved us. Did you idiots miss that? If they'd really betrayed the village, they wouldn't have come back. If staying in Suna was even a remotely good idea, they would have let us stay there. If you'd stayed, you would have been captured or killed."

"This coming from the idiot who led them right to us," one of the men grumbled. "You're just lucky he did save us, Eiko, or it would have been your fault that we were captured or dead."

The young woman lowered her head and closed her mouth, but a kunoichi with brown shoulder length hair stepped up next to her and put her arm on her shoulder. "Leave her alone, it wasn't her fault. She was hurt and just looking for someone to help her."

"You would have been found anyway," Temari said, finally speaking up. Gaara had a feeling that she was letting him take some heat as a small measure of revenge for just making a decision for the group. "If anything, you were lucky that you were only found by a group that small. If it hadn't been this group, you would have just been caught by a larger group at some point and then you really would have been screwed." She glanced at Gaara and smiled sweetly. "Plus, if you hadn't been fighting, we probably wouldn't have even seen you. Count yourselves lucky Eiko-chan left a bloody trail any idiot could follow."

"Fine, we're lucky," one of the complainers grumbled, "but what are we going to do now?"

"Rest," Gaara said again. "Tomorrow we will return to the village."

"Why tomorrow? Why not now while we have the cover of dark."

Gaara turned and looked up at the moonless sky. "I want them to _see_ it coming."

ooo

"Kabuto, you're going to be late if you don't hurry."

Yakushi Kabuto suppressed a grin and pushed his glasses farther up his nose as he walked down the stairs. "I have plenty of time," he told his adoptive mother, the only mother he'd ever known.

"You say that," she replied with playful sternness, "but you'll be rushing through the village on an empty stomach if you don't get moving."

Kabuto couldn't help but grin this time as he pulled his long silver hair back into a ponytail and wrapped a thin strap of leather around it to hold it in place. She was right, of course. He was running a little behind, but he was very good at eating on the run when he needed to. He wouldn't be late, no matter how much she worried that he would.

"Has father left already?"

His mother rolled her eyes. "You know him. He didn't even come home last night."

"All work and no play…"

"It's no worse than 'all play and no work,'" she chided as she pushed a bento box into his hands. "Hurry now. If you're late to work, your father will hear about it. There's no reason to go courting trouble with him during times like these."

Kabuto nodded, bowing slightly. "Thank you, mother, I'll do my best to hurry."

"Say 'hi' to Ino-chan for me."

Kabuto's dark eyes shifted to the side and his lips pulled into a tight smile as he tried not to chuckle. "I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about."

His mother gave him a wink and a laugh. "Of course not."

Kabuto turned and hurried out of the house, thankful to be away from awkward conversations with mothers who thought they knew everything. It was a strangely beautiful day in Konoha. The sun was shining, birds were singing, and overhead only a few fluffy clouds floated in the light breeze blowing from the south that seemed to carry a hint of flowers with it.

All across the horizon, however, dark clouds could be seen gathering. Most were to the north and west, but even the south and east seemed to contain brewing storm clouds, circling the village, just waiting to strike.

Apparently, Konoha's situation was so dire that even the weather was mimicking it. The clouds were, Kabuto thought, rather symbolic of the war at the moment. Inside the village, life was relatively peaceful (at least for those who weren't receiving news that a loved one had been killed), almost ignorant of the danger all around. The village was like a small animal sitting in a predators' mouth, looking out at the world and thinking itself safe. All around it, razor sharp teeth were preparing to rip it to shreds, but so long as it kept looking straight ahead, those teeth could be ignored. Just as one could be fooled into thinking that it was going to be a beautiful day if only he looked straight up and ignored all of the storm clouds on the horizon.

It seemed, however, that for the moment the citizens of Konoha could put the unpleasantness of the weather as well as the unpleasantness of the war out of their minds and just enjoy the morning before the storm broke. Many were sweeping walkways and carrying on lively conversations with their neighbors as young children ran through the streets. Only the usual ninja games of the children, the throwing of wooden shuriken and the pretend stabs they inflicted upon each other with cardboard kunai, served as a reminder of the realness of that game not too far beyond the village walls, marring the otherwise deceptively peaceful scene.

One such group of children were so enthralled in their game that they didn't see an older woman carrying a bag of food and nearly ran her over as they laughed and tried to 'kill' each other. The bag flew through the air and the woman landed on her rump in the dusty street.

Kabuto sighed as he watched the children offer up a quick apology even as they ran off without helping the poor lady up or picking up the groceries they'd made her spill. It must be nice to be so unaware of everything around you.

He set down his bento and helped the poor woman to her feet. While she dusted herself off and grumbled about 'little hoodlums' he carefully retrieved her groceries and did his best to clean them off for her. His white medic-nin robe would be dirty, but he had a spare at the hospital he could change into.

"Thank you," the woman said with a smile as she handed him an apple as a reward.

Kabuto took it graciously and bid her good day as he picked up his bento and continued on, moving a bit faster now that he was even more in danger of being late than he'd already been.

He might still have been okay, had he not run into two people that he wanted to talk to. The greeting was short and the conversation mostly meaningless, but it was important to make contact when the opportunity arose, especially in times like these. Sometimes something as simple as, "How are you?" "It's a beautiful day, don't you think?" or "The rain will definitely help the flowers bloom on time" was enough to get the job done with being slowed down _too_ much.

His father, however, would be very cross if he didn't make it to work on time, so he could only afford to talk to just a few of the people he met along the way. Normally, being on time wasn't a problem. Kabuto was always very careful to arrive a little early so that he wouldn't feel rushed, but the night before he'd been up late working at the hospital and replying to a few messages that he'd received over the course of the day. Four hours of sleep really wasn't enough, but he knew better than to complain. He was still a junior attendant, after all. Some of the older medic-nins had probably gotten even less sleep than him.

He made it to the hospital with only a few minutes to spare, hurried to his locker and changed robes, and then made a bit of a dash towards the head nurse's station so he could pick up his assignments for the morning. Only a few meters from the stern older woman's desk, however, a small hand shot out of a room, snagged him by his robe and pulled him inside.

"You're late," Ino whispered as she handed him a clipboard with a large stack of paper.

"I'm certain that I had at least fifteen to twenty seconds to spare," Kabuto replied, smoothing his robe and adjusting his glasses as he smiled warmly at her.

"Yeah well, try telling your father that. He's been asking where you are for the last five minutes."

Kabuto winced. That wasn't good. Apparently being consistently early meant that 'early' became 'on time' and 'on time' became 'late.' A stern man like his father would not appreciate his son, adoptive or not, being late… even if late was actually on time.

"I suppose I'd better go apologize for bringing shame and dishonor upon the family name," Kabuto said with an exaggerated sigh, earning himself a small giggle from Ino. "Hopefully he won't lecture me for too long, I'm supposed to go check on the _special_ patient in less than an hour. If I'm late to that, I doubt Tsunade-sama will be satisfied with just lecturing me."

"Actually, head into room 165 and give Fuki-chan some of these," she pushed a small bottle of pain medication into his hand. "She probably won't say much, but if she does, be sure to report it. Her mission went…" Ino's words caught in her throat for a second, "…badly." She was quiet for a moment, and Kabuto almost asked if she and Fuki were friends, but then she shook herself and said, "Also, be sure to check the bandages on her legs and especially that one on her head. I told your dad you were getting the medicine the last time he asked for you."

Kabuto smiled at her. "You'll get in trouble if he catches you covering for me."

"Don't make me do it again and he'll never have to know," Ino shot back. "Besides, I'm not here all that often and, when I am, I mostly work under Shizune-san. I don't think your father even knows my name."

"If only I could say the same about my mother…"

Ino cocked an eyebrow at him, her pink lips forming a cute frown. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Ah… nothing," Kabuto said, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. "Thanks for watching out for me."

"That's what friends are for," Ino said and then she pushed up onto her tippy toes and kissed him on the cheek.

The action happened so quickly that it caught Kabuto completely by surprise. His eyes widened behind his glasses and he felt blood rush to his cheeks.

Apparently, the kiss had happened so quickly that it had caught Ino by surprise as well because the soft, pale skin of her face instantly flushed crimson. "Oh, shit, sorry," she gasped as she quickly stepped back, banging loudly into the wall that she seemed to have forgotten was there. "That was… ah, I don't know what happened there…"

Kabuto did his best to smile reassuringly at her, not wanting her to be embarrassed over something so relatively trivial. "It's… uh, fine. What's a kiss on the cheek between friends, right?"

Ino made a real effort to smile back, but looked more sick to her stomach than anything. "You, uh, better get going or your father's going to figure out that you weren't here until just now."

Kabuto ducked his head so that their faces were a little more level and put his hand on her shoulder. "Don't be embarrassed, Ino, it's really not a big deal. A guy like me would have to be crazy to not enjoy being kissed by a beautiful young woman. And," he straightened and turned towards the door, "thanks again for looking out for me."

As he walked into the hall and began to make his way towards room 165, he heard a sound that suspiciously resembled that of a head banging against a wall and the word "idiot" being grumbled under a cute girl's breath. A small smirk played across his lips and his chest shook with silent laughter as he entered the room and began checking his patient.

ooo

Naruto's eyes snapped open, his chest heaving. He glanced down at his left hand and found his sheets clenched tightly between his fingers, blood seeping out of his palm where his pinky and ring finger had gotten past the sheet and dug into his skin. With a sigh, he sat up and shook his head lightly to clear the last of the ghostly images from his mind.

Orochimaru, again.

It seemed that every time he closed his eyes, Orochimaru was right there, waiting to spring forth. He wasn't really sure if it was better or worse than having some sort of perverted dream about girls who were younger than him… no, about girls that were his own age – if he was to trust Jiraiya in this area. It had only been a little over a week since he was freed from the hell of his captivity, so it was hardly surprising that he was still having nightmares, but he'd hoped that he could banish those years from his mind and focus on what mattered. There were times when he could ignore them, but as soon as there was nothing to distract himself with, Orochimaru was there.

He'd never really been one to dwell on his own past experiences; he thought about friends that he'd gained or lost, but rarely did he keep looking back at bad things that had happened to him specifically. Even when he'd been dwelling on Sasuke's defection, he'd thought more about _saving_ his friend than on what had happened during the defection.

When he first joined Team Seven and started to become friends with Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi, all the loneliness that had come before had seemed to wash away. Every once in a while it would resurface, but he never had nightmares about it or dwelled on it. This was different. He couldn't seem to just push this behind him and leave it there… at least so far.

Being a Hokage, temporary or legitimate, didn't seem to help, nor did any of his experiences from the future. He'd never gone through something like this, not even close. No matter the situation, he'd almost always been in a position where his strength, whether it was enough or not, was his own. He'd never had someone take his power away from him, not for so long, nor prove their complete and total mastery over him. Orochimaru had beaten him into the ground, both literally and figuratively, and spit on his pride… and Naruto wasn't sure that he'd ever have the strength to recover from that.

Really, it was a miracle he was mentally stable enough to even appear normal from time to time. He'd never heard of anyone going through half of what he had and still coming out the other side with any semblance of normalcy, real or not. He didn't consider himself particularly adapt at resisting torture, though he'd had plenty of training and a fair amount of experience at it – thanks in part to everyone, or at least every _body_, with the family name "Uchiha" that he'd ever met – even before he'd fallen into Orochimaru's hands, though the length of time of such things had always been extremely brief.

The truth was Orochimaru had _allowed_ him to keep his sanity. There had been long days of physical and mental torture, but there had also been long periods where he'd been left alone. They'd tried to use Karin against him, but even she had been more of a saving grace than anything. Whether she truly had been his friend or not – his brain found that a stupid question, but he still felt a surge of emotion whenever he thought of her – she'd been a refuge from the loneliness and pain. She'd saved him.

A few more weeks of what he'd been through and he probably would have told her anything she wanted to know.

He was lucky, there was no getting around it.

If Orochimaru hadn't been so interested in the supposed time travel jutsu, and so smart (or stupid) as to deduce that such a jutsu would require the bottomless supply of chakra that only a jinchuriki possessed, there was no way he would have been so careful with Naruto's mind and body. Naruto had no idea how Orochimaru's Fushi Tensei worked, but it seemed safe to assume that as far as Orochimaru was concerned, damage to the new mind was as bad as damage to the new body. Apparently some scars couldn't just be suppressed when he took over.

Naruto let out a sigh and sat up, bending his knees and then letting his head rest upon them. Outside he could hear the sounds of children and birds playing and the sunlight against his light blue curtains, a gift from Ino, suggested that the morning was already a few hours old. He thought about going back to the training grounds, but Sasuke's accusation of being afraid hung thickly in the air and seemed to sap away his resolve.

It was one thing to be afraid – only a psychopath felt no fear of anything – but it was quite another to let that fear become a hindrance. Everyone was afraid, but only cowards became hesitant or paralyzed because of that fear.

Was he hesitant? Was he emotionally or mentally paralyzed?

Naruto wasn't sure. Perhaps. He supposed that meant that Sasuke was right. He really was a coward.

He had a reason to be afraid, a very good reason, but he couldn't let it hold him back and if he was honest with himself, it did. Sasuke claimed to be able to see the fear in his movements. He was seeing the hesitation, the slowing down, the pause as a terrifying memory shifted through Naruto's mind.

On the battlefield, he would be a liability. It had been years, decades even, since he had been a liability, but as he was now he would be completely worthless to everyone unless he could figure out a way to pull himself together.

The only problem was, he didn't know how.

Whenever he thought of fighting, he seemed to instantly think of losing. He'd never thought like that before, not when he was a stupid Academy student, not when he was a stupid genin, not when he was a stupid Hokage, but now the idea had been pounded into his head that Orochimaru always won, that he was always stronger, that he always took or destroyed that which Naruto tried to protect.

How could he pull himself together when he was so certain of the outcome? He used to think that no matter how high the wall, how deadly the enemy, he could overcome it if he tried hard enough. For most of his life, it had been true, but just because he overcame something, didn't mean there weren't casualties along the way. He'd gone into battles that seemed impossible and come out victorious, but he'd lost so many friends along the way that it was hard to think of victories as being worth it.

Against Orochimaru… no matter how hard he'd tried, he'd never won. Victory with horrendous casualties was hard enough to accept, defeat with horrendous casualties was impossible. When he lost against Orochimaru and friends were killed, it was like their deaths had been for nothing… like their faith in him had been misplaced and it had cost them their lives.

Memories of those failures always reminded him of the look in the eyes of Sakura's mother when he told her that her daughter had died, just before she'd fallen to her knees and broken down into unending tears. It had been brief, but he knew what her eyes had been saying.

"You did this."

"This is your fault."

"Why didn't you protect her?"

"Why did she have to become your friend?"

"If it wasn't for you, my daughter would still be alive."

And she'd been right. Had she spoken the words aloud, he wouldn't have denied any of them. She was right. Sakura had died on a failed mission. Her death had accomplished nothing. It had been his fault. If she hadn't been his friend, if she was just another ninja, he wouldn't have taken her with him. He wouldn't have led her to her death. Someone else probably would have died, maybe even he would have died, but at least she would have lived.

It was his fault. He was weak and he hadn't protected her.

Because Orochimaru always won.

Naruto sighed and looked out the window. He needed help. He needed someone he could talk to. Jiraiya or Kakashi were his first choices, but Kakashi was on a mission with Sakura and Sasuke and Jiraiya wasn't the sort that Naruto thought would be able to help in this instance. For one thing, Jiraiya was in much the same boat as he was when it came to Orochimaru, as he too tended to be on the losing side during their clashes. For another, Jiraiya normally didn't like to delve into chaotic emotions if he could help it. He'd already spent the last two years working to rescue Naruto. It didn't seem fair to dump some whiny insecurities at his feet.

There was one other person, however, that could help. In fact, as soon as Naruto thought of him, he was ashamed that he hadn't done so sooner. Not only was the man one of the wisest people Naruto knew, but he was also someone that Naruto should have gone to seen as soon as he got back in the village.

If anyone could tell him how to regain what he had lost, it was the Third Hokage.

ooo

Hinata sighed. She wasn't sure why she hated to say it, but she did. Regardless of her feelings on the matter, the truth was that she'd had a very nice time with Hiroshi.

It had definitely been a date… and she'd had a good time.

For some reason, that made her feel like she was betraying Naruto.

It was silly, of course, but she couldn't deny the sensation. She felt guilty for going and spending the evening with Hiroshi, having a nice meal and then taking a casual stroll through the clan's garden.

She felt even worse for having not told Naruto what she was doing because she didn't want to upset him. She hadn't lied to him, but only because he hadn't specifically asked if she was going to go on a date with Hiroshi. He had asked what she was doing with the rest of her night and she'd simply said that she was going to "go have dinner."

Not a lie, but it felt closer to a lie than to the truth.

Maybe it was because of that guilt, or maybe because of the firm conviction with which he'd said it, but Naruto's accusation had weighed heavily on her while she and Hiroshi walked to the restaurant.

Naruto's intuition had often been very insightful. When they used to train together, he'd frequently spotted things in her that she didn't think anyone else could see. If he could see through her, who was to say that he couldn't see through Hiroshi?

It had been hard to bring herself to speak the accusations, and she felt a little like she had betrayed Naruto in doing it, but in the end she was also glad that she had.

o

_Hiroshi looked at his food, inhaled contentedly, and gently picked up his chopsticks. His first two bites were far quicker than was polite, but then he seemed to catch himself and slow down. Hinata wondered if it wasn't a habit that he'd picked up during his captivity when food was scarce and hunger constant._

_He didn't look like he'd starved nearly so much as Naruto, but there was a gauntness to his features that served as a constant reminder that even after giving in, he hadn't been treated well by his captors. Despite that, however, he was not an unattractive man. His pale eyes were a little haunted, but there was also kindness in them. His face showed the signs of recent starvation, but it was still a handsome face. Now that his long dark hair had been cleaned and combed, he'd regained most of the Hyuuga Clan's elegance. He was probably very thin, but his white kimono hid it well. It also accentuated how pale he was after living in a hole for a year. Yet another, unnecessary, reminder of what he'd been through._

_A part of her wanted to weep over what he and Naruto had suffered. Neither deserved such memories. The hatred and fear that it had pushed into Naruto and the guilt that was a near constant in Hiroshi's eyes, if she could take them away from them, at any cost to herself, she would gladly have done so. They were both good, strong, kind men. She was lucky to have them as friends._

_Hiroshi took a few more bites of his food and looked up, smiling warmly. "Hinata-sama, I have… something I feel I should say, though I fear the words may sound far more forward than would be polite."_

_Hinata nearly sighed in relief at the distraction. "Please, speak your mind," she told him gently, "I w-won't take offense."_

_"When I first saw you," Hiroshi started, slowly stirring his food with his chopsticks, "I thought you would not make a good leader for the Hyuuga. You seemed scared of everything around you. You appeared… weak."_

_Hinata felt her cheeks start to flush. Whatever she'd been expecting him to say, this wasn't it. It certainly wasn't the sort of conversation one was supposed to have right off the bat, and probably one best left out completely while on a date, though she supposed that it was possible that this wasn't a date at all. She'd once thought that Naruto had asked her out, perhaps she'd simply misread this meeting also. "Well… that is true; I am not strong."_

_Hiroshi shook his head. "I used the word '_appeared_' intentionally. I last saw you when you were ten or eleven, I think. Since then, you have grown more than I thought possible. Your insecurities as a child did not remain with you, as I thought they would. You have grown strong, and kind, and… beautiful. You will make the Clan proud when your father decides to step down."_

_Hinata's cheeks burned red hot at his words. 'Forward' didn't begin to describe a statement like that. She went from thinking he was broaching a topic that proved he didn't consider their dinner to be a date to wondering how he could possibly have found the nerve to say something so open. In a family so carefully reserved, his words were practically a declaration of undying love. _

_"Y-you are… t-too kind," she whispered, trying to keep her breathing even and her eyes from growing so wide that they popped out of their sockets and landed on her plate._

_"Ah, see?" Hiroshi smiled, his own pale cheeks flushing with embarrassment. "I've said too much. I seem to have developed a bad habit during my captivity. I spent so long thinking of things that I should have said when I had the chance that I no longer hold my tongue as I ought to."_

_"No, do not say that," Hinata replied as she let out a slow breath and did her best to smile. He was not putting her at ease, but he was also out of practice when it came to dealing with people properly. She had no such excuse for not trying to make him feel comfortable. Besides, she couldn't hold something like that against him; it was… nice of him to say such things, even if it embarrassed her terribly. "Our clan is too secretive and too reserved sometimes. It is good to speak your mind every once in a while, I am just… undeserving of such high praise."_

_"Hmm," he chuckled as he picked up a slightly large chunk of rice, put it in his mouth and swallowed, "You have already learned to play the modesty game, though in your case I think that it is true modesty rather than the insincere mask put on by diplomats and politicians."_

_Hinata knew the game that he was referring to, but she wasn't playing it. She really did think that he was speaking far too highly of her. She wasn't as weak as she'd once been, but she was hardly strong enough to deserve the praise he was giving her. As for her being beautiful… she didn't even want to think about that._

_The conversation seemed to die away when she didn't answer immediately, and soon both of them were concentrating on their food once more or at least they seemed to be. Hinata was actually replaying Hiroshi's words and then thinking back on what Naruto had told her. It was a horrible thing to think, but she found that she couldn't trust Hiroshi's kindness with Naruto's accusation unanswered because, in the end, she trusted Naruto even when he sounded crazy._

_"M-may I ask you something?" she said as she set her chopsticks down. "I fear it will sound… strange, or perhaps even accusatory, but I am afraid that I have to ask it."_

_Hiroshi set his own chopsticks down, giving her his undivided attention. "Hinata-sama, you saved me from my hellish existence. You may always ask whatever you want without fear. I owe you far more than simple answers."_

_"Naruto-kun… he, he doesn't like you."_

_Hiroshi rubbed the underside of his nose, as his lips twisted in a wry smile. "Yes, he made that abundantly clear at the hospital. I don't blame him. Of course, I would feel the same way were our roles reversed."_

_Hinata shook her head. "No, he says that he doesn't care about what you did, b-but he still doesn't like you. He thinks…" she paused, suddenly unsure if she could go through with giving voice to the accusation that seemed so silly now that she had to retell it. "Perhaps… perhaps I shouldn't say it."_

_"Please, go on," Hiroshi said, leaning forward expectantly, "I would like to know why he dislikes me if not for the most obvious reason. I owe him a debt nearly as large as the one I owe you; if there is something that I am doing to offend him, I wish to know of it."_

_Hinata took a deep breath and said, "He thinks that you are using me. That you are… befriending me in hopes that it will lead to a romantic relationship so that when my father steps down, you will be in position to become the Head of the Clan instead."_

_Hiroshi's eyes widened fractionally and he stayed silent for a long moment, then he shook his head and asked, "So, your question is: Is he right?"_

_"S-sorry, but is he? I know Naruto-kun went through something terrible, but he was always very good at seeing through… people. If he says it, I have to at least wonder."_

_Hiroshi nodded slowly, his eyes drifting towards the ceiling of the restaurant as a strange expression fell across his face. "He is very lucky," he said softly, "to have such a devoted friend. Most would have dismissed such an accusation as delusions of a deranged mind that has suffered too much for too long."_

_When he didn't say anything more, Hinata asked, "Then… he is wrong about you?"_

_Hiroshi shook his head sadly and closed his eyes. "No," he whispered, "he's completely right…"_

_"I don't understand."_

_"Before Orochimaru captured me, I was the sort of trash who would have done something like that. I thought of my political position and how to better it almost constantly. I must admit that I never considered doing something so elaborate as that, but it sounds like something I would have tried to do a little over a year ago." His eyes opened and slowly drifted down until they found Hinata's. "Does that surprise you?" he asked gently, his pale eyes probing hers._

_"Yes."_

_He smiled in genuine relief. "I'm glad. I would hate to think that I still seemed to be that sort of person. How sad that it took a year of imprisonment and weeks of torture to change me." He bit his lip, a very unHyuuga-like expression, at least so far as all Hyuuga not named 'Hinata' were concerned. Slowly, his hand moved across the table until it was just barely touching her fingers. The touch surprised her, but she didn't move away from it. Hiroshi looked pleased, if a bit nervous, as he added, "Naruto-san is right about one thing, however."_

_"He is?" Hinata's hand didn't quite pull back from Hiroshi's touch, but her fingers flinched as his words hit her._

_Hiroshi pulled his hand back, apparently not wanting to push his luck, and propped his elbow up on the table. He leaned his cheek against it and he smiled as a few strands of long dark hair fell across his face. "I won't deny that I don't have some hopes that our friendship becomes something more. I don't care about becoming the Clan Head, but being with a woman as kind and beautiful as you would be any man's dream." His smile turned a little sheepish. "I… it's another bad habit, I suppose, but during this last week I've come to admire you and… I didn't want the opportunity to spend time with you to slip away. That is why I was so forward in asking you to dinner. Life is fleeting. If I didn't ask you today, who knows what would have happened by tomorrow?"_

_Hinata had no answer to that. It was one thing to call her strong, still another to call her beautiful, but to openly say that he hoped she would someday hold romantic feelings for him, feelings he already had for her? That was… she wasn't sure what it was. Only in her dreams had anyone ever said anything even remotely similar to that to her, and usually it had been Naruto speaking; even in her wildest, most insane dreams, no Hyuuga had ever spoken in such a way to her._

_Her face was hot again and her eyes wide. She tried to open her mouth to say… she had no idea what she could say to that, but even as her lips began to part, she felt her stomach flip over as her heart pounded in her chest._

_"There, you see?" Hiroshi chuckled awkwardly. "I've done it again. Tomorrow I will need to spend as much of the day as possible meditating on once more finding my center and restraint."_

_A strange new terror swept through Hinata. She wasn't afraid of Hiroshi, but of herself. She'd felt a little guilty about going on a date with someone that Naruto, one of her most precious people, detested so completely, but now, even worse, she was happy that Hiroshi had said what he'd said. It felt… good… to be desired like that._

_And she was horrified about feeling that way._

_"Forgive my forwardness, Hinata-sama," Hiroshi said, sounding very unsure of himself after her long silence. "I understand that my feelings are not returned, nor do I expect them to be. Please, be at ease. Hopeless fantasies aside, I am more than happy with simply being your friend, if I may be so bold as to call myself that."_

_Hinata gave herself a little shake and smiled as best she could at him. "Of course, H-Hiroshi-san. I am… happy to be your friend."_

_Hiroshi smiled back, looking both relieved and pleased at her words. It suddenly occurred to Hinata that he had a very nice smile. "Then let us enjoy our meal, as friends, and hope that the food will silence my uncontrolled tongue and keep me from embarrassing you further."_

o

Hinata sighed and shook her head. It was a very awkward and stupid situation that she found herself in. She cared deeply for Naruto, and not just as a friend, but now she found that she also cared a bit for Hiroshi. Naruto, however, had not shown even the slightest hint that he would or could ever think of her as more than a friend (in fact, he'd flat out said just the opposite), while Hiroshi had taken a great risk to very boldly proclaim his feelings for her. She'd liked Naruto for so long that it seemed like a betrayal to have these feelings, but at the same time, there wasn't really anything between her and Naruto to betray.

Hiroshi hadn't specifically said so, but he seemed to know how she felt about Naruto and yet he still was willing to put himself out there like that. It seemed unfair to him to see him in any way that wasn't completely platonic while desiring another above him, but it also seemed stupid to keep him at arm's length simply because Naruto existed.

At the end of the night, after he walked her home, they had stopped near her door. He was nervous, looking like he wanted to do or say that he wasn't sure she would accept. It didn't take a genius to figure out what he was trying to work up the nerve to do, but it still surprised her when she felt him lean in closer to her.

For one brief moment, she'd had a completely clear understanding of what the future would hold for her. If she leaned towards him, even just slightly, he would have kissed her.

Her first kiss would have happened right there.

She'd been shocked when she realized that it was actually tempting. Very tempting. Some part of her had wanted him to kiss her! She'd wanted to lean towards him, to give him permission.

Hiroshi was a kind man. He'd gone through something terrible, but had done the best that he could. He was struggling to regain a sense of normalcy so that he could move on with his life. He felt a great sorrow for what he'd done and wanted to make amends for it.

He didn't know it, but there was also a strength about him that seemed to say that he would do what was necessary to right the wrongs that he felt he'd committed. Beyond that, that desire to make amends seemed to awaken a sense of duty to protect others as well.

It had surprised her when he'd said that he hoped to be cleared to return to duty so he could help protect the village. The Hyuuga often seemed to worry about their clan first and the village second. When she'd asked him about that, he'd smiled and said, "_If I protect the village, aren't I already protecting the Hyuuga? And if the Hyuuga _are_ the strongest in Konoha, then it is our duty to protect those that are weaker than us… as I should have done with Naruto-san while we were prisoners._"

He seemed to be everything that she hoped that the Hyuuga would become someday and when he looked at her, there was something in his eyes that seemed to… she wasn't sure what. Worship her? Covet her? Desire her? Something like that.

He understood her, he understood their clan, he could see what the clan needed to be like, and he liked her. He cared about her. He was willing to admit it freely – something that meant a lot since they were Hyuuga…

And yet, he wasn't Naruto. Even now, thinking about a nice evening and a man that she was growing to care more and more about, every other thought about Hiroshi seemed to circle back towards Naruto.

If she'd kissed Hiroshi, would she have been thinking about Naruto during it? Would she have wished that it was Naruto she was giving her first kiss to? Would she have instantly regretted it?

Hinata sighed and closed her eyes. Why did she even continue to have these feelings for Naruto anyway? It would be far simpler and easier to just cast them aside and free herself to give her heart to someone who actually wanted it.

_'You are still a foolish little girl, Hyuuga Hinata,'_ she thought as she exited the house and began making her way towards the training grounds. Both Kiba and Shino were out on missions that would probably last the rest of the day so she would have to train alone.

She wished that her clan would let her go on missions outside the village, but with Kumo's forces so close to the village and given their past attempts to gain the Byakugan, she'd been all but pulled from active duty for the time being.

A part of her was tempted to go to the Fifth Hokage and beg for a mission. From what she knew of Danzo, there was at least a small chance that he would grant such a request.

She didn't care what sort of mission it was; anything to get out of the village and distract her from the sad and confusing state of her love life.

ooo

Naruto shoved his hands into his pockets and looked down at the road, determined not to make eye contact with anyone as he walked towards the hospital and – he hoped – the Third Hokage. When he'd decided he needed to go see the old man, it had occurred to him that he actually had no idea where the Third was. He knew he was sick, really sick, so it would make sense for him to be in the hospital, but beyond that, he was basically starting a journey without a real destination in mind.

All around him, shadow clones transformed to look like random villagers out on errands kept a careful watch over him. It was probably pointless, but he would never let himself be caught off guard the way he had been with Rin. He was surrounded by enemies, or felt like he was anyway, and there was no one to watch his back except himself. The only time he wasn't watching over himself was when he was sleeping and that was only because it seemed to be impossible to keep the clones going while he was unconscious.

No one could knock on the door to his apartment or get within two meters of him without him knowing about it. He'd almost laughed at the surprise on Hinata's face when he'd been preparing a sandwich for her before she arrived. He must have seemed amazingly clairvoyant to have been making her food that he knew she would like at the exact moment that she happened to arrive. Of course, a clone sitting on top of his roof, as well as another down on the street had both let him know that she was coming, but she hadn't known that and he hadn't wanted to tell her in case such actions seemed a touch… overly paranoid… in her eyes.

Hinata might have understood or at least accepted his weirdness, but most would have thought that this was another symptom of the fear that seemed to have gotten a firm grasp on his heart during the last two years. Probably they would shake their heads and say, "He had such potential, but now he's living in fear."

He didn't care, at least not much. The way he felt at the moment, the fear the seemed to wind around his heart whenever he allowed himself to remember who his opponents were, there would probably be ten or more of him living every waking second of every day until he died… which might not be that long anyway.

He was about halfway to the hospital when he heard a shout just as a memory of a dark-haired man running at him from behind hit him. He turned, his hands coming up to form seals, but caught himself as he recognized Iruka.

"Naruto!" the chuunin – at least, Naruto _thought_ he was still a chuunin, though that might have changed while he was away – said with a happy smile. "I was just coming to see you! I stopped by yesterday, but you weren't at your apartment." He looked Naruto up and down, his eyes lingering ever so slightly on Naruto's extremely thin arms, and then reached out and patted Naruto on the shoulder.

Naruto did his best not to flinch away from the contact.

"How are you feeling?" Iruka asked softly.

"I'm fine, Iruka-sensei." Naruto replied, not meeting his old teacher's eyes.

Iruka kindly didn't push him for a more truthful answer. "Are you hungry? I know it's kind of a weird hour, but if you want, maybe we can talk Teuchi-san into opening up a little early for us." He grinned conspiratorially and whispered, "Just don't tell Sakura-chan that I'm taking you out to ramen for breakfast."

Naruto knew what would happen if he took Iruka up on the offer. It was the same thing that always happened whenever he went out to eat with Iruka. A very innocent question would be asked and he would end up telling Iruka everything. Iruka had always been the one who could get him to open up about things that were bothering him… but not this time. If he started telling Iruka how he was feeling now, he wasn't sure what would come out of his mouth.

Probably he'd cry and if he started that, he wasn't sure that he would be able to stop. The strength he needed to keep his composure wasn't in him anymore.

"Sorry, sensei," Naruto said, almost meaning it, "I don't have time now… I… I have to go." As he walked away he added under his breath, "I won't let you see me, when I'm wearing this weak-ass face."

Iruka stared after him, a confused and worried look on his face, but he didn't follow. Naruto wished that one of his clones hadn't released itself so he could see his sensei's face. He felt bad enough about brushing such a kind offer off after having gone so long without seeing Iruka; the look on the man's face made it twice as bad.

He didn't regret turning Iruka down, of course, but he felt bad about it.

He made it all the way to the hospital without being interrupted or stopped again, but once he was there, he was hard pressed to think of how he could get the information he needed. The receptionist probably wouldn't know where the Third was, and even if she did, it wasn't the sort of information that she'd just hand out to anyone who asked. Even if Konoha wasn't in the middle of a war that wasn't going so well for them, that sort of information was far too sensitive to be passed around like candy.

Just as he started to think that he might have come all this way for nothing, Sakura came walking down one of the hallways. Her head was bandaged, her arm was in a sling, and she walked with a noticeable limp, but she smiled warmly when she saw him.

"Naruto, what are you doing here?" she asked.

Naruto couldn't take his eyes off her injuries enough to focus on her question. He'd known she and the rest of Team Seven except for him had gone on a mission the previous day, but he hadn't realized that it would be _this_ sort of mission. A memory of Sakura lying on the blood-soaked ground of a small cave as she struggled to breath flashed to the front of his mind and his heart dropped into his stomach, upsetting it enough that he nearly lost the breakfast he hadn't eaten all over the hospital lobby floor. What would he have done if Sakura had been killed on that mission? What would he have done if she'd been killed before he was even rescued?

"Naruto?" Sakura asked again, stepping closer to him and reaching out with her good hand to steady him. "Are you okay? You look like you saw a ghost."

"Fine… I'm fine," he whispered as he struggled to regain his composure.

Sakura looked dubious. She lowered her head so she could get a better look at his down-turned face and then glanced at her arm resting in the sling. "It's not as bad as it looks," she told him gently, "barely a scratch if you ask me. I wouldn't have even bothered getting it checked out if I didn't have to come in for work anyway. Don't worry about it. If you hadn't seen me until the end of the day, you probably wouldn't have even known I'd been hurt."

Naruto didn't really feel any better after hearing that, but that was probably because the thing making him sick was based in possibilities, not in reality.

"How about you? Are you coming in to get checked up?" Sakura asked. "Sasuke said… well, he said that you 'needed your head examined,' but I'm not sure if he meant it literally or not." She smiled teasingly and said, "You don't look like you have any bruises or lacerations… your hair looks nice, by the way. Much better than that shaggy mop. Hinata-chan's work?"

"Yeah, she came by yesterday and helped me cut it."

Sakura's lips pressed hard together and her cheeks trembled as she did her best not to break into a smile. "Did she now?" she asked in as controlled a voice as she could manage.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh come on!" Sakura laughed, finally giving in to the inevitable. "She cut your hair for you. That's practically straight out of one of my… er, _Ino's_ stupid romance novels."

"It wasn't like that," Naruto sighed. "She came over to apologize for something that bastard Hiroshi did and… it was bugging me… and I couldn't really cut the back very well, so she helped."

Sakura raised one eyebrow, a small smirk on her face, and then rolled her eyes. "Alright, whatever you say. No big deal. The only person who cuts my dad's hair is my mother, but that's probably just them. I'm sure that most teenage girls would completely overlook something like that while they were cutting a handsome young man's hair in his apartment…"

The sarcasm was practically dripping from her words, but Naruto chose to ignore it.

With him not rising to her bait, Sakura let it go. "What did Hiroshi do that Hinata-chan had to apologize for?"

"He was born."

"Ah, well, that must have been an interesting apology. Did it have anything to do with him needing to be treated for a busted lip and some dark bruises around his neck?"

Naruto looked away. Sakura was far too well informed.

"It wasn't his fault, you know," Sakura said gently. "I'm not saying it was right, but you were both in tough situations. Really, Juuken strikes are better for your body than drugs; in some ways, he might have actually been helping you, even if it wasn't intentional."

"People keep thinking I care about that, but I couldn't care less what he did to me for Orochimaru."

"Then what's the problem?"

Naruto frowned, casting a quick glance around the room. A few of his clones had taken up spots within it, but they couldn't release themselves without drawing attention. He doubted that he'd be attacked in the hospital, but it was possible that someone was listening in. More than that, it felt like a weird conversation to be having in the middle of the hospital lobby.

"Do you know where the Third is?" he asked.

"Are you going to answer my question?"

"If you take me to the Third… sure."

Sakura didn't even hesitate. "Come on, I'll take you there," she said as she started leading him out of the building. "He's a little ways from here. You'll have plenty of time to talk on the way."

Naruto knew he didn't really have a choice anymore. To tell the truth, he didn't really care about keeping it a secret anyway. Probably she would think he was crazy, but even if it just caused Sakura to pay a little more attention when she was around Hinata, it might help.

Plus, Sakura was the sort that would actually stop leading him if he tried to renege on his promise.

"He's trying to worm his way into Hinata-chan's life," he said without preamble. "He's probably spending every free second trying to figure out how to trick her into liking him. You saw the way they were while we were coming back to Konoha. Every chance he had, he was talking to her, trying to win her over."

Sakura frowned and then, choosing her words carefully, said, "This really isn't any of my business…"

Naruto rolled his eyes. "I feel a 'but' coming on."

Sakura flashed a semi-serious scowl at him and said, "However…"

"Same difference."

"_However_, if you don't like her as more than a friend, or if you don't want her to like you that way, then it really isn't any of _your_ business who she chooses to give her affections to. You had your chance. Hinata is cute, a good ninja, and is going to be the leader of one of the most important clans in Konoha, a guy would have to be _stupid_ to pass up on a chance with someone like her." She paused and then added with a small smile and a wink, "Plus, she's way out of your league."

Naruto did not appreciate the attempt at humor. "I don't care who she chooses, so long as it isn't _him_. He's… he's bad news."

"I think that's for her to decide."

"She'd agree with me if she knew him the way that I do."

"You can't hold what happened with Orochimaru against him, Naruto. It wasn't his fault and you know it. Maybe you wouldn't have done the same thing if your positions were reversed, but not everyone is as strong – or stubborn – as you are. Just because he caved, doesn't mean that he was 'hitching' himself to Orochimaru. Hiroshi-san couldn't have helped you even if he did refuse. Orochimaru would have just tortured you some other way. I'm not saying that makes it right, but you have to put the blame on the person really responsible: Orochimaru."

Naruto shook his head. "I keep saying it, but no one gets it. I _really_ don't care about that. He could have closed my tenketsu everyday for an eternity; it wouldn't have mattered to me."

"Then why…"

"It's… complicated…" Naruto said with a sigh, "and I don't want to get into it right now, but I have a good reason, a really good reason, for hating him. Trust me, if he ends up with Hinata, nothing good will come of it. She'll be miserable and the Hyuuga will suffer."

"Right," Sakura said as they turned down a small side street, "Hiroshi-san would completely ruin her life, and the clan, _and_ the village too, I imagine, just by being himself."

Naruto didn't like the way it sounded when she put it that way. It made him sound irrational, which he wasn't, but nothing she said was technically wrong. "Something like that," he grumbled.

Sakura smiled triumphantly. "Then, for the sake of Hinata, the Hyuuga, and the village as a whole, you should just go ask her out."

Naruto glared at her for a moment, feeling even more annoyed when her smile became very smug and she started to wiggle her eyebrows in an attempt to make him laugh. In the end, his annoyance wasn't as strong as her silliness. He smiled, then scoffed a little, and finally couldn't help but chuckle. Sakura joined him.

"I can't ask her out," he said as their laughter died down.

"Why not," Sakura asked, sounding a bit exasperated with him.

"It's just… complicated."

Sakura shook her head. "You should probably not talk like that too much. Girls like a little mystery in their man. You keep that up and Hinata won't be the only one carrying a torch for you. Heck, _I_ might give up on Sasuke and chase after you for a bit." She paused, giggled, and then added, "Or maybe that's what you were hoping for all along?"

Naruto shook his head. "Sorry, flattering as that is, I wouldn't go out with you either."

"Oh, why not?"

Naruto grinned from ear to ear, for a brief moment, he felt like he was himself again. "It's _complicated_."

Sakura looked thoughtful at him and then shook her head again. "I've changed my mind," she decided after a few seconds, "it's not that mysterious, just irritating. You'll never get any girls with that."

"That's the Sakura-chan I remember."

Sakura smiled and pointed at a small, inconspicuous building to their left. "This is the spot. Come on."

She led him into the building and up to a stern-looking ninja standing guard just inside the doorway. Sakura greeted him by name and said that they were just there to check up on how the Third was handling the new medication. Apparently the ninja knew Sakura because he didn't question her or even ask for any sort of paperwork to prove that she was there for the reason she said.

Sakura headed down a hallway, took a left at the next intersection and then pointed to the third door down. "He's in there. Try not to upset him. I'm going to go check with Tsunade-sama, then I'll be back. You should have at least a few minutes to yourself before anyone comes to give him his next dose of medication."

Naruto smiled at her. "Thanks, Sakura-chan."

"Well, stupid as you are about some things, you're my friend. We've got to help each other out, right?" She gave him a wink and headed in the opposite direction.

Naruto silently entered the room and looked around. The light was dim, but he could see a bed at the far end of the room with medical equipment surrounding it. The room smelled of death and decay, a scent that he was well used to after the past two years as Orochimaru's guest, and a strange feeling of despair hung in the air. It was a room where someone was dying despite the best efforts of everyone who knew him.

It was a room Naruto instantly realized shouldn't have existed.

The Third had died a hero in his timeline. He'd given his life to protect the village. Had Orochimaru not had the ability to jump bodies, Hiruzen's efforts would have taken out the threat that eventually conquered the entire continent. He'd gone out in a blaze of glory, like the Fourth before him, moving from respected and beloved leader to revered almost god-like status. No one looked up at his great stone face, always watching over them, without smiling with pride at the fact that they'd been blessed to live in a village that had produced such a man.

Now, the God of Shinobi was nothing but an old man, lying on his deathbed, struggling to breath as the suffocating stench of death and despair hung in the air.

It wasn't fair.

Naruto had wanted to save him, to let him retire and enjoy the rest of his life watching his children and grandchildren grow up. Instead, he'd condemned him to this hellish death.

Because everything he tried to protect, Orochimaru destroyed.

"He's still sleeping," a tired voice whispered, startling Naruto.

He turned to the wall on his right and found Sarutobi Asuma sitting in a chair, watching him curiously. Asuma looked strange. At first, Naruto thought it was simply because he was without the usual cloud of smoke that followed him around, but then he realized that it was more than that. Something in Asuma's eyes was different. He looked… tired? scared? sad?

Some combination of those.

"Hi, Asuma-sensei," Naruto said softly. "I… I just wanted to come and, you know, see how he was doing."

"It's been a rough two years, for both of you," Asuma said with a kind smile. "I think he'll be happy to see you back safe and sound. He's talked about you often."

Naruto nodded. "How is Kurenai-sensei?" he asked, looking for a more pleasant topic. If his memory was right, the two of them were probably either married or at least had gone public with their relationship. In fact, she might even be pregnant by this point, though it seemed like it might still be a little early for that.

Asuma didn't smile at his choice of new subjects, if anything, he looked worse… and also a bit confused. "Kurenai?" he asked. "She's fine, last I heard."

The way he said it sent off warning bells in Naruto's head. It was reckless, he knew, but he couldn't help pushing for more information as a surge of dread filled him. "Aren't you two… um, _together_? I thought you'd be married by now or something."

"You've been talking to Ino," Asuma noted. He was wrong, sort of, but close enough. Ino _had_ been one of the people to explain the whole thing to him (Shikamaru had also given him some details), just not _this_ Ino. "That girl… look, not that it's any of her or your business, but Kurenai and I are just friends. A war is no time to be getting tangled up in a romance, certainly no time to be getting married or starting a family. The last thing either of us want is to be together and have one of us get killed. Konoha needs us at our best and we can't be that way when we're worried about a spouse during the middle of a battle."

Naruto's dread was well placed. They weren't together. She wasn't pregnant and probably wouldn't be anytime soon.

Their daughter would never exist.

As he stared at Asuma, all Naruto could think of was the cute little girl that had followed Shikamaru around like a puppy from the time she could walk until he was killed in battle. She'd still been pretty young when Naruto was sent back in time, but her talent had already been evident to anyone with eyes. Blessed with the natural Sarutobi talent, her mother's genjutsu inclination, and – Naruto suspected – her father's wind chakra nature… she would have been one of the strongest kunoichi of her generation, maybe the strongest ninja regardless of gender of her generation.

And now she was gone.

Nothing he could do could fix this. He had no idea when she was conceived, wasn't even sure when exactly she was born, and there was no way he could get the two of them together for the sake of producing a child at such a specific point in time even if he had known all those things.

A casualty who would never be known, never be missed, never be thought of or remembered by anyone but him.

And like it or not, it was his fault she was gone… or would never be.

She wouldn't be the last child that his little time-traveling trip would prevent from ever existing, she might not even be the first, but she was the one he could most readily pick out at this point.

Asuma didn't give him a chance to offer up any sort of apology for his rudeness (not that he had the presence of mind to offer one anyway). He crossed the room, whispered something to the tiny form lying in the bed and then kissed his father on his sweat-covered wrinkled brow. With a small, curt nod to Naruto, he strolled out of the room, leaving the blond to decide between gazing after him, dwelling on what had been lost, and going over to Hiruzen and looking down at him, dwelling on what had been lost.

Naruto chose the latter.

As he stepped closer to the Third Hokage, he was struck by just how small and frail the old man was. He'd spent countless hours staring up at Hiruzen's face in the pictures that hung above the Hokage's desk as well as the stone sculpture overlooking the village. It had always been a face that seemed warm and inviting, yet also held a power that could not be denied. Even in his old age, he'd been a powerful Hokage, a powerful ninja. The fact that he'd made it to old age was proof enough that he was far stronger than almost anyone else.

To see such strength reduced to the thin, pale, lifeless form in front of him was enough to bring tears to Naruto's eyes.

Orochimaru always won.

He could feel all of the pain and hopelessness of the situation beginning to overwhelm him when suddenly a cold hand closed weakly around his wrist as a hacking cough came from the body in the bed.

"I… I believe I once told you I still had a few years… left in me. They seem to have… run out."

Naruto tried to smile, but couldn't find it within himself to do it. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "This is all my fault."

"N-not at all," the Third said with a cough. "You couldn't h-have known… you couldn't have stopped it. It's not… not your fault."

Naruto shook his head slowly. "He always wins… I can't beat him."

"Or-Orochimaru?"

"He's like me. From the future, I mean. That's why things were changing."

"Ah." It was hard to tell if the Third believed him still or not, but it didn't really matter at this point. Naruto just needed to get the words out, to let all of his fears spill out so they weren't trapped inside, eating him from within.

"Every time I faced him, every time I fought him. He always wins. He always beats me, kills my friends, destroys what I'm protecting… I can't win."

Hiruzen's eyes closed and for a moment, Naruto thought he'd fallen asleep, but then he opened them and said, "I know… you c-can beat him. You're st-stronger than you know," he paused and coughed and then added, "You're still young… Grow stronger."

Naruto scoffed. "I'm not _that_ young, I just look like it."

"Non…nonsense. You are still a boy. Old memories… or not, y-you're body is young. You're still… still growing. I wish you could have b-been allowed to enjoy it more. Not your… fate, I'm afraid, but try to find moments of peace and happiness where you can."

"You sound like Ero-sennin," Naruto chuckled, wiping tears from his eyes. "He thinks I need to start dating girls my age and stop trying to be their personal trainers."

"He's… he's right," the Third said quietly and then added, "Don't t-tell him I said that."  
"He'd never let me hear the end of it if I did," Naruto replied.

The Third tugged gently on his hand, trying to get him to lean in closer. Naruto did as the old man wanted.

"It-it's a gift… What you've been given," Hiruzen whispered. "Follow your… your heart. The blood of a Hokage is in… in your veins a-and everything you need to be a great Hokage is in your heart. D-don't worry about… the future, don't worry about your past. It doesn't… doesn't matter anymore. Live this life, not that one. Find something that makes you h-happy, and… and protect it with all your s-strength."

Naruto knew what he was hearing. These were parting words. The Third didn't expect to ever see him again and wanted to make sure that he imparted some wisdom to him before he went.

What was worse, it was wisdom that sounded suspiciously like what Jiraiya had said the previous day.

Naruto swallowed hard, but the lump in his throat didn't go down. "I'll do my best," he promised.

"Can you tell me… before you stop thinking about the future… tell me about my grandchildren. What happened to Asuma and Konohamaru and the others?"

Naruto was quiet for a long time. The future hadn't been a nice place for the Sarutobi clan. Excluding the others who had lived and died but not been directly related to the Third, there was Asuma being killed, Konohamaru being killed, Asuma's daughter who would never exist… what was he supposed to say to a dying old man? That his family would be destroyed and would probably not extend past his lone grandchild?

It would be a terrible thing to say, so he didn't say it. "They make you proud. Really proud. Konohamaru married Moegi. The wedding was really nice. They let me officiate and I didn't even make any mistakes. He looked just like his uncle when he grew up… beard wasn't quite as cool-looking, but he hadn't had a chance to grow into it when… when I ended up getting sent back.

"Asuma and Kurenai got married. I wasn't there for the wedding, because Jiraiya and I were training, but Hinata said it was really nice. They had a little girl, Hana. She… she was… _will be_ amazing. I think she was planning on surpassing even her famous grandfather. She was still young when I got sent back, but I thought she had the natural talent to be a kage-level ninja someday. They named their second child after you. He was a brat, like his cousin, but you could tell he was going to be cool someday too."

Naruto glanced down at the old man and smiled. He'd fallen asleep. Only the wheeziness of his breathing made it seem like anything more than a peaceful afternoon nap. There was even a small smile on his lips.

The lie was worth it. He had to bear the burden of the truth alone, but that small smile on that wrinkly old face made it worth it.

At that moment, there was a soft knock on the door. Naruto stepped back from the bed and vanished into the shadows, covering himself further with Jiraiya's Touton jutsu.

A tall, slender young man in a medic-nin's uniform stepped into the room, looking around curiously as if expecting the room to be occupied by more than just the Third Hokage. With the darkness of the room and the light from the hallway, it was hard for Naruto to make him out at first, but as he stepped closer to the Third and the door to the hall closed, he recognized him instantly.

Kabuto.

And he had a syringe that he was preparing to inject into the Third's arm.

o

o

A/N: Agh… sorry about this. Hopefully it was still enjoyable despite the length and the tardiness. It just seemed that every time I thought "Okay, the next scene will start pulling us towards the big fighting and jinchuriki going crazy all over the place" it just didn't happen. I needed Naruto to talk to the Third, I needed the Kabuto stuff, I needed the Hinata-Hiroshi stuff… there really wasn't enough that I could cut to get the chapter where it needed to be. As it is, this chapter was about 15k words long and I just couldn't bring myself to cut hardly anything. Even if I managed to cut a full scene, I don't think I could have gotten in the Konoha fighting that I thought I was going to get to. Next chapter should get us there. If nothing else, at least we'll have a decent amount of Gaara in all his sand-controlling jinchuriki badass-ness.

Thanks for reading. Please review and let me know what you thought.

Fushi Tensei – "Living Corpse Reincarnation" or "Immortality Jutsu." The technique with which Orochimaru's soul is transferred to another host.

Touton Jutsu – "Transparent Escape Technique." Jiraiya's invention that allowed him to peep on women bathing.


	10. This Messy Thing Called Life

Chapter 9: This Messy Thing Called Life

o

A/N: Because the new Naruto art book that just came out has identified the names of all the jinchuriki as well as their bijuu, I'll be making any necessary corrections. So far as I can remember, this should only affect the name of the five-tails' jinchuriki whom I had named "Sajin" so that I wouldn't have to call him "hey you" or "that guy in the red." His name has now been revealed to be "Han" so that is what I shall use. Should you spot a stray "Sajin" that I somehow missed, please let me know.

o

The first sign of trouble was the rumbling. No one had any idea what was causing it or why an area with so little seismic activity would suddenly be having an earthquake, but it unnerved both conquering Rock-nin and defeated Sand-nin alike. Then, just as the sentries and hunting parties began to realize that the quake was lasting far longer than even the normal small rumbles of the Earth Country, the desert outside of Suna began to swell like an angry sea during a storm. In only a few seconds, a giant tidal wave of sand rose up and towered over the still smoldering village, blocking out the late morning sun and threatening to obliterate any sign that the village or its conquerors had ever existed.

Some screamed and tried to flee, knowing that it would be useless. Others were almost paralyzed with shock at the sight. And a few realized that such a thing could not be natural. It was those few who were prepared for what was to come.

Not that it would save them from Gaara.

Unlike the previous night, when he'd rode the sands with his siblings, Gaara was alone this time as the wave crashed over the cliffs surrounding the village. It was difficult for him to control so much sand and his task was made even more difficult by the fact that he had to keep it from falling down on the village it towered over. If the Rock-nin forces had completely taken over the village and removed all surviving citizens, he would have simply let the sand crash down on them and bury them in his former home. Since that had not happened, however, he had to expend considerable chakra holding the sand back once it rose up over the village. It wasn't impossible, not even close, but given the enormity of what he and his siblings were about to try to do, spending chakra on a show of power was dangerous.

Not as dangerous as trying to fight an organized and completely unintimidated army, but dangerous nonetheless.

The sand rose to a crest, slowly beginning to break over the edge of the cliffs and down onto the village, and then he jumped off. With a great push of will, Gaara flung the sand back the way it had come. It seemed to hesitate for a second, like the hand of an angry god having second thoughts about crushing a bug, and then gradually melted back towards the desert. Even without it falling down on the village, the force of that much sand hitting the ground was enough to shake the village and topple several buildings that were already weakened during the fighting.

The feeling of weightlessness was unpleasant for Gaara. The wind whipped by his face and the ground rushed towards him at an alarming rate, but he did not give into the urge to even move his arms away from his sides as he shot towards the village below like an arrow. He preferred to remain grounded whenever possible, but the plan required that he infiltrate the village quickly.

As he fell, he did his best to see through the tears that kept forming in his eyes as the dry wind buffeted against them and locate his targets moving through the streets. Gaara could see Rock-nin still fleeing the awesome wave that had threatened to bury them and everything else underneath the sands of the desert. Their confusion and fear would only last for a few seconds at best and after that they would reorganize and all of their attention would be on him. He needed to be in the village and causing even more chaos before they collected themselves.

In any other village, this would have been a suicide plan. No one person could stand up to an army, no sane person would even try.

Gaara wasn't sure that he had ever been sane, but he also wasn't crazy.

He was barely ten meters away from slamming into the ground with such force that he would have been nothing more than an unrecognizable puddle of gore, when sand formed beneath him, altering his trajectory, and then carrying him parallel to the ground as he skimmed above the streets towards the nearest group of Rock-nin.

In Suna, surrounded by desert and sand as far as the eye could see, Gaara also wasn't just one person, crazy or not.

Here, he was a god.

Their eyes widened in shock at the sight. Perhaps they realized it, or perhaps their shock froze their brains.

He was a god that was royally pissed off.

He leapt off the platform of sand, the momentum from his fall still propelling him forward, and landed on top of one of them. The Rock-nin barely had time to cry out before the weight and force of Gaara hitting him snapped his spine, either killing him or knocking him unconscious.

It really didn't matter which.

Gaara's hands tightened into fists and then he threw them out to the sides. The effect was instantaneous; the sand around his feet formed into tight spikes and then shot out, skewering his enemies.

Gaara glanced around at the bloody mess, feeling his heart pounding at the sight. He let out a slow breath and pushed the feeling down. He couldn't be lost in the bloodlust. He had to control the demon.

If Uzumaki Naruto could do it, so could he.

One of the Rock-nin groaned and tried to push away from the spikes that had pierced his chest and leg.

The spikes dissolved, spilling the red-stained sand onto the ground for a second and then wrapping up and around him. Gaara didn't even look at him as he squeezed his hand together, crushing the man within the sands.

The initial group taken care of, Gaara let his eyes drift around the immediate area. It was worse to see it in the light. He'd known it was bad when he'd seen a bit of it the night before, but the level of destruction before him was almost staggering. Everywhere he cast his eyes, he could see destroyed or burnt buildings. Some, despite being made of stone and concrete, seemed to have been melted. That confused him more than anything else. It seemed to him that it would have taken at least a dozen ninja using fire jutsu on a building to create such an effect. That level of destruction didn't really serve any point and would have taken far more energy than it was worth.

Were the Rock-nin such barbarians that they amused themselves with such things?

The irony of someone like himself chiding his enemy for pointless destruction was not lost on him.

Gaara turned away from the buildings and summoned sand beneath his feet. Without moving a muscle, he was lifted into the air, just high enough that he could find the next group of Rock-nin, still pointing towards the wave that he had created.

Gaara stood on the platform of sand, arms crossed, and waited until they saw him. The instinct to crush them instantly was almost overwhelming, but he resisted. They were already dead; it was just a matter of waiting for them to go along with Temari's plan.

A large boulder shot towards him, moving impressively fast for something so big. The sand carried him out of the way, allowing it to slam into the remains of the building behind him. The impact was too much for a structure whose structural integrity had already been compromised to such a degree. It came down with a thunderous crash.

Gaara casually lifted his hand and made a fist.

The sand under the feet of the group surged up around them and then constricted. They hadn't even had time to cry out in terror before their lives were snuffed out.

Gaara rose higher in the air and looked to see if the earth jutsu had been enough to accomplish what he wanted it to.

It took only a few seconds to see the other Rock-nin moving towards his position. It appeared that it _had_ worked.

He waited for them to get close enough and then swung his arm up. The sand under their feet shot into the air, carrying them with it. Over a hundred meters in the air, the sand lost its cohesiveness and crumbled beneath them, leaving them to plummet to their deaths unless they quickly learned to fly.

Gaara noted with some satisfaction that the secrets of flight remained a mystery long enough for all of them to hit the ground.

He lowered himself to the ground and prepared for what was to come. He'd sent up the signal for Temari and the others and had drawn at least a large portion of the Rock-nin army's attention towards him.

Temari, Kankuro, and the others would be free to move through the village, helping those they could, freeing prisoners, and beginning the Suna counterstrike. His job now was to crush anyone and everyone that came at him.

It was the job he'd been created for. The job his mother had died in order to bestow him with.

Here in Suna, surrounded by enemies and sand, he was a vengeful god of death. He was going to usher all those who attacked him or his people into the afterlife with such haste that they probably wouldn't even realize what had happened until a Shinigami explained it to them.

The only hard part would be to not enjoy it too much.

ooo

The syringe was a millimeter, maybe even just a micrometer, away from the Third Hokage's arm when Naruto's hand shot out of the darkness and closed around Kabuto's wrist, jerking it back and twisting it sharply to the side. The gray-haired medic-nin's hand was forced open and the syringe sent flying away.

Somewhere in the darkness, Naruto heard the sound of shattering glass as the syringe's no-doubt-deadly contents were splashed across the floor.

"You've gotten bold," Naruto hissed. "Doing something like this in the middle of the day, did you really think you'd get away with it?"

Kabuto's eyes narrowed in what Naruto assumed was feigned confusion. "What is the meaning of this?!? I have to—"

"Shut up, bastard," Naruto growled. "I know what you are and I won't let you lay one finger on old man Hokage!"

His foot shot out, trying to sweep Kabuto's legs, but the medic-nin's own foot rose and easily stopped the kick as his hand twisted sharply, breaking Naruto's grip. He spun away and brought both hands up defensively.

Kabuto stared at him for a moment and then his eyes widened fractionally as realization struck. "You're Uzumaki Naruto, right? Ino and Sakura-chan have been talking about you."

"Don't play dumb, you know exactly who I am."

Kabuto shook his head. "Forgive me, Naruto-san, but I barely knew you before your abduction and shortly after we met my teammates were killed on the mission to rescue you. I don't think about that point of my life, if I can help it, and it's been two years. If Sakura-chan and Ino hadn't been talking about you so much the last few days, I wouldn't have remembered who you were."

He looked at Naruto's hands, up in a position that would make it easy to strike with either taijutsu or ninjutsu and shook his head. "I'm not sure what you think is happening, but you're confused. I'm simply trying to give the Third his midday medicine, nothing more. I have no desire to hurt him… or you. Please, calm down."

Naruto was well beyond calm at this point. He wasn't so far gone that he was willing to use a jutsu that would damage the room – though several that were fully capable of that feat sprang to mind – but he had every intention of destroying Kabuto. He brought his hands together, creating three shadow clones that instantly melted into the darkness around the edges of the room, and then held up his right hand as blue chakra swirled in his palm, forming a tight ball.

Kabuto stared at the Rasengan for a second, his eyes widening behind his glasses, and then started backing away. "Naruto-san, please, just… call someone you trust to explain things to you. There's no need to…"

Naruto charged forward, his arm drawn back. Two of the clones sprang out of the darkness, coming at Kabuto from either side. Kabuto's hands slipped along his uniform and then, without looking at the clones, he threw something at both of them. They exploded as senbon pierced their hearts with precision that Naruto wasn't sure even he could duplicate.

Naruto had hoped for more of a distraction from the clones than that. Something along the lines of Kabuto turning to face one would have been nice. Still, he was confident that he could still hit his target, and one shot was all that he needed.

He was already in range; Kabuto might have his eyes in the right spot, but his feet were flat and his hands were extended to his sides, decreasing the speed with which he could move laterally. His hand began to move forward. Kabuto started to twist to the side, but it was too late. The jutsu was going to catch him in the chest just before he twisted away and even the glancing blow would send him through the wall. His chest would probably be torn to shreds. Even if it wasn't, he'd be done for long enough for Naruto to finish the job a hundred times over. No healing ability would save him.

Naruto knew he was going to win.

Orochimaru's plan would fail…

…but Orochimaru always won, he was always stronger, he always destroyed what Naruto tried to protect.

Naruto blinked, his mind racing, suddenly wondering what he was missing. Was he playing into his enemy's hands? Would Kabuto's death somehow cause the Third's or perhaps someone else's? What was he missing? What was underneath the underneath…

His distracted thoughts slowed him down fractionally, just enough for Kabuto's twisting torso to escape the path of the Rasengan. His left hand came down on Naruto's wrist as his right shot up and his fingers jabbed into Naruto's elbow. The pain was enough that he lost control of the Rasengan. The resulting tornado-like swirl of wind gave Kabuto time to pivot on his heel, placing him directly behind Naruto.

"Forgive me, Naruto-san, but if you won't calm down, I'm afraid I have to incapacitate you."

A senbon pierced Naruto's right shoulder, just above his scapula. His right arm fell limply at his side. Naruto tried to turn to face Kabuto, but the older ninja's foot shot out, hitting the back of his knees and taking his legs out. A second senbon appeared in Kabuto's hand, pointed right at Naruto's throat.

"If you don't stop, I'll be forced to do more permanent damage."

A kunai appeared at Kabuto's throat as the third clone stepped out of the shadows. "If you don't stop, I'll be _happy_ to do some permanent damage," the clone whispered with a smile.

Kabuto let the senbon drop without another word.

"Actually, I lied," the clone said softly, the kunai still against the medic-nin's throat, "I was going to kill you no matter what."

Kabuto jerked his head backwards, moving his neck fractionally away from the edge of the kunai as his right hand came up and caught the clone's wrist. Naruto turned as well, his injured arm flailing uselessly, but a second Rasengan forming in his left hand.

At that moment, the door to the room flew open.

"What the hell is going on here?!?" Tsunade demanded as she looked at the two Narutos and one Kabuto fighting while the Third, apparently, slept through it all. Standing right behind her was Sakura, her sling and the bandage around her head had been lost during the time since she left him with the Third.

The clone broke free from Kabuto's grip, kicked the medic-nin's feet out from under him, and slammed him onto the hard ground as it repositioned the kunai at his throat once more.

"He was trying to poison the Third," Naruto explained quickly, the Rasengan still swirling in his palm.

Tsunade's eyes seemed to linger on the jutsu for a moment, and then they pulled away and moved back and forth between the two ninja, trying to make sense of the whole mess. "Put that thing away," she told Naruto, nodding towards the Rasengan. Naruto instantly obeyed and it faded and dissipated with far less commotion than his first had. "He was supposed to give the Third his medicine. What makes you think it was poison?"

"He's _Kabuto_," Naruto growled, as if that explained it all. In his mind, it did.

"He's also one of the most gifted medic-nin I have working under me," Tsunade replied, "but neither of those things make him an assassin."

"He's working for Orochimaru!"

That did the trick. Instantly, a suspicious light ignited in Tsunade's eyes as she turned back to Kabuto. "Where's the syringe?"

Naruto pointed in the general area where it would probably have landed. "Don't worry, I stopped him before he could do anything."

"Tsunade-sama," Sakura said softly. "He… Kabuto-san has had plenty of opportunity to poison the Third. If he was going to do it, why would he have waited?"

"Maybe he didn't," Naruto pointed out. "What if the reason the Third got sick was because he was being poisoned?"

Tsunade ignored both of them as she crossed the room and knelt next to the remains of the syringe. She carefully picked up a small piece of glass that was covered in whatever the contents of the syringe had been and handed it to Sakura. "Go check this and tell me what you find."

"You can't possibly believe this," Kabuto exclaimed from his spot on the floor. "I haven't poisoned anyone!"

"I didn't say I believed it," Tsunade replied as she rose, walked to the Third's side, and began checking his vitals, "but an accusation like that has to be treated seriously. If you are as innocent as _I_ think you are, there's no harm in checking. Sakura needed to go get another dose anyway, this only adds a few minutes to her trip."

"Can I at least get up?"

"You've been working long hours at the hospital, enjoy the rest."

"I'd rest easier if I didn't have a blade at my throat."

Tsunade shrugged. "Well, enjoy the rest as much as possible under the circumstances. I'm sure you'll be on your feet in no time and…" her voice trailed off for a moment as she sighed and shook her head, "…please understand that this is nothing personal, unless he's right about you and then it will be _very_ personal."

Kabuto let his head rest on the ground. "I understand," he said in a voice that made it sound like he found the whole mess ridiculously absurd, but was willing to tolerate it for the sake of those involved (and because it kept the kunai in the clone's hand from slitting his throat).

"No time" ended up being roughly five minutes. Naruto had tried to explain things to Tsunade twice during that span, each time being told to shut up and sit quiet while they waited for Sakura. When Sakura returned, her eyes were conspicuously careful not to meet Naruto's.

"It wasn't poison," Sakura told Tsunade softly. "Everything was exactly the way it should have been."

Tsunade nodded, not looking remotely surprised, and glanced at Naruto. "Let him up."

"But—"

"You just assaulted a ninja of Konoha for no reason, do you really want to argue with me right now?"

The clones vanished in a puff of smoke.

"I'm telling you—"

"Naruto!" Tsunade snapped. "Not. Now. I don't care about your paranoia. I've spent over a decade feeling more paranoid than you could possibly imagine, but no matter how much you think you know what you're talking about. The fact is that you tried to kill someone who was about to give the Third the medicine that I told him to administer."

"Please, there's no need to be so hard on him," Kabuto said as he rose and dusted himself off. "I'm perfectly fine, the only thing that was lost was a syringe and a little time. I'm not sure what I did, but perhaps I somehow caused his panic."

"Shut up," Naruto growled, feeling disgusted with pretty much everything and everyone at the moment. "I can handle being yelled at by Tsunade-baa-chan, but I can't handle you standing up for me, so just… just shut up."

Kabuto sighed and shook his head. Naruto wanted to kill him even more.

Sakura handed the new syringe to Tsunade and grabbed Naruto by his still paralyzed arm. "I think it might be time for us to get out of here," she said, already steering him towards the door. "If you need me for anything, Tsunade-sama, just send Shizune-san to Naruto's place. If I'm not there, I'll be at home."

Naruto didn't bother trying to resist her, he knew this mood well enough to realize that she'd probably just throw him over her shoulder and carry him out if he tried to argue with her. Besides, the arm she was pulling on might have been someone else's for all the control he currently had over it and Kabuto had already made him look bad enough as it was; there was no need to make things worse.

On top of that, he had things to think about now. Tsunade _trusted_ Kabuto, Sakura and Ino as well, apparently. How had that happened? Hadn't he warned the Third and Kakashi about him? Hadn't he told them what he was and who he was really working for?

Did they not believe him or had something changed?

Kabuto had mentioned his teammates being killed on the mission to retrieve him after Rin had kidnapped him, maybe that had something to do with it. Naruto couldn't even remember what Kabuto's teammates looked like, much less how they'd died in the original timeline.

He pondered the problem while Sakura led him to a quiet street and healed his arm as quickly as she could. After a few minutes, he could move it, but it felt like he'd spent the night sleeping on it and it was just waking up. The pins and needles feeling was uncomfortable, but not nearly so much as the idea of Kabuto walking around Konoha without anyone watching him.

"Sakura-chan, Kabuto… er, san, said that his teammates were killed on the mission to rescue me. No one's said anything about that, what the hell was he talking about?"

Sakura sighed and closed her eyes. She relooped her arm through his, but didn't drag him this time as the started walking again. Anyone who saw them, would probably have gotten the idea that they were a couple out on a stroll rather than… his mind flashed to Jiraiya's comment about his relationship with the people around him.

He did his best not to physically cringe at the thought.

"We waited for you for a while after the Exam ended," she said softly, unaware of his sudden discomfort, "at Ichiraku, remember?"

He didn't, but he nodded anyway, glad for something to take his mind off of Jiraiya's words.

"When you didn't show, we went and got Kakashi-sensei; he was the one that figured it out. We went to tell the Third – he was meeting with the Council, so they heard too – but the war was just starting up and they couldn't really send anyone. Well, the Third said we could take whoever we wanted, but sensei said it should stay in the family… whatever that means.

"We found them, the ones who took you. It didn't seem like it took that long. After that… it was just fighting almost nonstop. Sometimes we got you away from them, but they always got you back. We got separated. Kakashi-sensei fought against Rin-sen… against _Rin_. I ended up fighting a guy who was two people stuck together, and Sasuke-kun chased after the girl who took you. I don't know what happened to Misumi-san, he was the one who went to help Kakashi-sensei, but Yoroi-san saved me. I would have died if he hadn't shown up when he did."

She let out a shuddering breath. "The way he died… it's too horrible to even say it."

"And that Misumi guy died too?"

"Yeah, Kakashi said that Misumi saved his life while he was fighting Rin and one of the other Sound-nin."

"And Kabuto was…" Naruto's eyes widened as he realized how the rest of the story went, "…with Sasuke?"

Sakura nodded. "If it hadn't been for Kabuto-san's team, the only one of us that maybe would have come back from that mission was Kakashi-sensei, and that's a _big_ maybe. They're heroes. Misumi and Yoroi's names are on the monument and everything."

Naruto chose not to hear that last part. He wasn't sure what they were, but he couldn't use the word 'hero' and 'Kabuto' in the same sentence unless that sentence was: 'Kabuto betrayed and murdered a hero.' The idea of Kabuto's teammates, who were probably just as much Orochimaru's lackeys as Kabuto was, having their names on the monument and being honored as heroes was too disgusting to think about.

He let his arm slip away from Sakura's and turned towards her. "I can walk myself home. Sorry I went a little crazy back there… I just… I don't know. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"We both know what's wrong with you," Sakura said gently. "And it's okay, you'll get better, but it will take some time. Just try not to attack anyone unless you have really, really, _really_ good proof that they're actually bad guys… and," she gave him a wink and a sly smile, "maybe ask me to look over your proof to make sure that it's more conclusive than 'He's Kabuto.'"

Naruto did his best to take the joke the way it was meant to be taken and not as proof that Sakura thought he was crazy… though he wasn't completely sure that he wasn't at this point. With a small, weak smile, he turned and headed back towards his apartment, leaving her to watch him until he vanished around the corner before going off to do whatever it was that she was going to do.

Probably go tell Kakashi or Sasuke that their teammate had completely lost it.

Strangely, he found that he didn't care. Now that he was alone, he wasn't thinking about Kabuto, time travel messes, or even (amazingly) Orochimaru, but instead he was pondering the words of Sarutobi Hiruzen. The Third had told him to let go of the past and the future and just live. He'd also more or less told Naruto to start dating a girl his age… though thankfully not in so many words.

Could he really do something like that? Could he let go of what he had been in the future and just live this new life?

He was certain that he couldn't forget the future. Even though things had been irrevocably screwed up and that future would never happen, he couldn't just forget it. Things people had done, crimes committed, children born… he couldn't forget any of them, even if he wanted to. He couldn't forgive Hiroshi, assume the best about Kabuto, or start trusting Danzo to be a good Hokage. He couldn't forget that Pein and Madara were out there plotting, or that Orochimaru was no doubt preparing to make some power-play of his own.

Maybe, though, just maybe, he could let some of the responsibility go. He'd spent most of his non-captured time worrying about turning Sasuke into a good person, or turning Hinata into an acceptable leader of the Hyuuga, or turning Sakura into her future-self earlier. He'd manipulated them all almost every time he'd spoken with them and lied through his teeth as often as not. Anything to make them "better" than what he felt they'd been in the future, as if it was up to him to decide what they did with their lives.

Not that he was wrong, of course. Helping Sasuke and Hinata especially was of vital importance to the village and the world… well, more Sasuke than Hinata when it came to the world, but Hinata was the sort who could lead the Hyuuga out of their somewhat backward ways and, besides that, she was his friend and her happiness and wellbeing was important to him.

His mind flashed to Sakura telling him that he should ask Hinata out for the good of the village, the Hyuuga, and Hinata.

_'Stupid Sakura-chan,'_ he grumbled as he kicked at a small rock on the path, sending it skipping across the walkway and into some grass. Now whenever he thought of doing something for Hinata, he'd think of that dumb comment!

What was worse, there was some truth to it. It might be better for Hinata if he asked her out. He didn't have to date her for long, just until Hiroshi either got killed or found someone else to use for political gain.

And he did love her, as a friend, of course, but love was love. He also loved Sasuke and Sakura and all the others. That was why he did what he did. He manipulated them, he pulled them along a path they might not have chosen – or even discovered – on their own, he trained them, he even (in Jiraiya's opinion) refused to really be their friend, all because he loved them or at least loved the them that he had known in his own timeline.

It was for their own good that he did those things. It would be for Hinata's own good that he pretended to date her. Manipulative as hell? Sure, but for the greater good.

_'God, I sound like I'm making excuses,'_ he groaned to himself. _'At least when Orochimaru is pulling everyone's strings he's honest about how much of a bastard he is.'_

That random thought struck him harder than he expected. What he was doing, it _was_ like Orochimaru! Manipulative, sneaky, offering tantalizing prizes to get others to do what he wanted…

But it wasn't for personal gain that _he_ did it, he wasn't that sort of person. He only did it was because it was the right thing to do. It was good… at least in his own eyes, the only ones that mattered to him, apparently.

The real question was: what actions did love excuse?

Because he loved his friends, did that give him the excuse to ignore their wishes and just do what he thought was best, manipulating and lying to them all along the way? Or did love force him to allow them to make messes of everything and just give them a shoulder to cry on when a mistake that he could have prevented blew up in their face. Maybe love meant that he could warn them, but couldn't stop them from making their mistakes…

If that was the case, love sucked.

He supposed it was a good thing Hinata and Hiroshi were just friends. No doubt Hiroshi would be trying to change that, but perhaps with the war going on and her duties as the future leader of the Hyuuga, she'd be too busy to fall for any of his tricks. He'd warned her about what Hiroshi was, maybe that would be enough to persuade her to be at least weary around him. If she could see through his little act, she would be fine without something as stupid as Naruto asking her out to protect her.

Naruto sighed as he looked up at his apartment building and then began hopping from balcony to balcony until he reached his own and headed inside. He'd gotten so used to trying to change everyone, becoming just their friend again was going to be hard work.

ooo

Fuki lay quietly on her bed, her maroon-colored hair almost completely hidden beneath the bandages that had been wrapped around her head, staring up at the ceiling of the hospital room she was sharing with three other ninja. Her eyes didn't move to trace any cracks, she didn't blink or flinch whenever the pain in her legs, arms, chest, or head flared up. She just lay there and stared, completely unaware of the world around her.

In her mind, however, was a timer. Slowly ticking down. For a long time, it had been stuck on one number, but then, after a soft whisper from somewhere she couldn't identify, the countdown had begun.

The ticking of the clock seemed to follow the rhythm of her heartbeat as monitored by the small machine next to her bed.

And then, it struck zero.

Images and commands flooded her consciousness, overwhelming her. She retreated from the assault, but it didn't matter. In an instant, her mind was split into two unequal parts. It was the much smaller, far weaker, part that remained her own.

Without a word, she sat up, turned and let her feet slide out from under the sheets. The pain from walking on her injured legs was passed onto the smaller part of her brain which cried out in agony with each step.

She glanced at the three men, lying in their beds in various states of drug or injury induced unconsciousness. None of them were capable of stopping her and none of them were related to any of her orders, so she ignored them and turned towards the door.

Inside her own mind, she began to realize what was happening and what _would_ happen. She begged to be released, begged her body to obey, but it had a new master now, so all she could do was watch.

Down the hall, she spotted her on-again, off-again childhood friend, Yamanaka Ino, her pretty blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail that lightly bounced as she headed into a new room, carrying a clipboard and wearing the robes of a medic-nin. It was the robes that caught her attention, more than anything, and she quickly moved towards the room Ino had just entered, her brown eyes carefully sweeping the area for anyone who might spot her or interfere with her orders.

Ino was busy organizing supplies in the room and making the occasional mark on her clipboard. As Fuki entered, she spotted a small scalpel resting on one of the shelves. Her hand passed over it and the scalpel seemed to vanish without even being touched.

Ino must have spotted the movement out of the corner of her eye because her head snapped towards Fuki, her eyes startled. "Fuki-chan?!? Oh my god, what are you doing up?" She moved towards Fuki, reaching out to take her hand. "Let's get you back in bed, you haven't healed yet. When did you wake up? Yakushi-san said that it would be days before you were ready to move again."

Fuki wordlessly allowed her arm to be taken by Ino, letting the young woman, with her concerned blue eyes, step closer.

_'Stop!'_ she screamed inside her head, _'Don't do this!'_

Her body didn't hear her pleas and she could do nothing but watch as the hand palming the scalpel flashed forward.

ooo

"He's completely lost it," Sakura whispered. "I… I don't know what to do. He _attacked_ Kabuto-san over… over nothing! We're just lucky Tsunade-sama didn't make a big deal out of it and that Kabuto-san tried to brush it off like it was just a big misunderstanding or he might have ended up in jail or worse."

"I told you this yesterday," Sasuke replied, sounding bored as he picked at his lunch, though Sakura knew him better than that. No matter how he tried to play it off as something he didn't care about, everything about Naruto was a big deal to him and _this_ was the biggest deal of all. "You said that we just needed to give him time."

"You said he'd lost his nerve and was having delusions, I'm talking about him being out of control," Sakura shot back.

"There's not really any difference, is there?" Sasuke replied as he began ignoring the food and instead started rolling one of his chopsticks back and forth over his knuckles. "If he's delusional, he'll act on his delusions. Whether he's become a coward or not, he's still Naruto. He'll still act without thinking."

"You didn't see it," Sakura sighed, leaning back in her chair, her own food forgotten. "He could have killed Kabuto-san and Kabuto's practically at jounin level already! And he'd be a full-fledged medic-nin as well if he didn't want to keep being Tsunade-sama's assistant, everyone knows it."

"So?"

"Naruto could have killed him. If we hadn't come in when we did, he might have! Can you imagine how bad that would look? He's already… you know…"

"The Kyuubi's jinchuriki," Sasuke supplied, his eyes watching the chopstick dance across his hand.

"And everyone holds that against him."

"They're idiots."

"But they're idiots who are in charge of running almost everything in the village."

"It's not that bad anymore, not since the Chuunin Exam."

Sakura shook her head. "It's bad enough. Some people were pretty impressed, but they almost always add something like 'and then he disappeared' at the end, like they're still suspicious."

The chopstick made another trip across Sasuke's fingers. "Maybe they should be."

Sakura stood, reached across the table, and slapped the chopstick out of his hand. "Listen to me! Our friend is in trouble and you act like you don't even care!"

Sasuke's eyes turned cold. "What if I don't? Are you going to hit me until I change my mind?"

Sakura didn't back down. "Maybe I need to, if that's what it takes to wake you up. You spent the last two years being completely obsessed with getting him back, but now that he's here, you act like he doesn't matter to you."

"The Naruto _I_ remember didn't come back," Sasuke growled, rising to his feet. They were making a scene, several of the other customers in the restaurant were staring at them, but neither cared. "I don't know how to deal with _this_ person!"

"He's still Naruto," Sakura shot back, she could feel tears rising in her eyes, but she ruthlessly pushed them back down. "He's still our friend. If he's having problems, we have to help him."

"How?"

Sakura opened her mouth to reply, but found that no answer came out. All of her anger and frustration seemed to die away. "I don't know," she admitted softly.

Sasuke let out a sigh and dropped into his seat, folding his arms across his chest and turning his head to stare sullenly out the window.

With her anger dissipated, Sakura suddenly became aware of the fact that they were the center of attention in the room. "Forgive me," she said bowing to other patrons, "I'm sorry if I disturbed your meal." She sat and forced her attention onto Sasuke so that she wouldn't keep looking around to see if anyone was still watching her. "We have to do something."

Sasuke shrugged, back to feigning indifference. "Why?"

"Because he's our friend and we love him… and because he helped us."

The last line actually brought Sasuke's eyes back to her. "What's that supposed to mean?"

In spite of everything that had happened that day, Sakura smiled. Among the many things Sasuke hated, being in someone's debt was near the top. "Come on, look around you." He did, but didn't seem to understand what she was referring to. "Two years ago, would you have been caught dead sitting with me, at a place that I picked out, having a meal that you fully intend to pay for?"

Sasuke scowled and Sakura did everything in her power not to smile smugly at him. She mostly succeeded.

"This _isn't_ a date."

And then she failed completely as the broad triumphant smile spread across her face. "Isn't it?"

Sasuke didn't look pleased. "You know it's not."

He was right, of course, but that didn't mean that she was going to let him off the hook. "Does anyone else?"

"I don't care."

"You still haven't answered my question."

"Naruto doesn't have anything to do with this. You and I spend time together because we're friends; because you stopped being annoying and started being…" he cringed at his last word, but said it anyway, "useful."

Sakura's smile became less smug and more gentle to let him know that she didn't take offense at the description. "And Naruto didn't have anything to do with that?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

He tongued the inside of his cheek, suddenly looking a lot less sure. "What happened?"

"Me trying to be helpful, pestering you less to go out with me and trying to get you to train with me, becoming useful you, it was _all_ Naruto's idea. Way back when we first became Team Seven." She got a faraway look in her eyes as she tried to remember just when they'd had "The Conversation" – as it had come to be known in her mind. "It was before we went off and fought those weirdoes in that mining town, but I can't remember how much before. A while, at least. Couldn't have been much more than a week or two after we became Team Seven."

"What did he tell you?" Sasuke asked. He was trying to sound bored still, but wasn't doing a very good job.

"That if I wanted to be around to help you restore your clan, I had to be there to help you accomplish your first goal: killing your brother."

The color drained from Sasuke's face. "He said you had to help me kill my brother? Those exact words? Way back then?"

His choice of story elements to fixate on caught her off guard. She thought for a moment and then said, "Um, I don't know, maybe. I know what it is now, so it's hard to remember exactly what he said."

Sasuke looked out the window once more. "Even if he didn't tell you exactly who I wanted to kill, he told you how to play me."

"I wasn't _playing _you," Sakura corrected him, "I was just making myself useful to the person I cared most about."

Sasuke waved his hand dismissively. "Whatever. He still told you exactly how to get closer to me."

In spite of herself, Sakura was a little annoyed by the way he was interpreting events. "Well, I'd like to think that I had _something_ to do with it."

Without a word, Sasuke rose, took some money out of his pocket and dropped it on the table to pay for their food. Then he turned and started to walk away. After only a few steps, he paused and glanced back at her over his shoulder. He stared at her for a moment, his lips pursed, and then said, "You _did_ have something to do with it. It might not have worked for anyone but you; that might be why he chose you to do it."

And then he was gone, leaving Sakura both annoyed by the suddenness of his leaving and strangely touched – as well as very puzzled – by his cryptic parting words.

ooo

"Back again?" There was no amusement in her voice. She was just noting the fact.

Kakashi shrugged. "I'm a masochist, remember?"

Rin shook her head sending her long, dirty brown hair cascading over her thin shoulders. "Go away, Kakashi, I don't feel like watching you torture yourself today."

Kakashi rubbed his right hand with his left, massaging the ache radiating from a still healing injury as he stared down at his onetime friend and teammate. "Now that I know what my absence allowed to happen, I can't just leave you alone."

"I promise not to betray the village from _inside_ this jail cell," she said with a roll of her eyes as she turned in her small cell until she was facing the opposite wall. She didn't have anything else to say to him and hoped that her absurd statement would be enough to get him to go away.

Though it was annoying to admit, she enjoyed his presence, but she also knew that he wasn't there to see her, he was just there to make himself feel the pain of what he felt was his failure. She didn't want him to see her this way. She especially didn't want to be just a tool for torturing himself.

He really was an idiot, wasn't he?

"I know Ibiki says that you don't know anything about the war or Orochimaru's plans, but I have to ask… again. Do you?"

She refused to look at him.

"Things are bad out here. Konoha is going to need every advantage we can get if we're going to survive. Do you really want to let Obito and sensei's home be destroyed?"

It was her home too, but there was no need to point that out. She'd abandoned the village long before she ever betrayed it. She'd seen what it would get her, the pain the heartache, the constant wars… let the whole damn thing burn to the ground, she didn't care.

Well, that wasn't really true. She _did_ care, if only because Kakashi was still in the village and, if she knew him, he would keep fighting until someone got lucky enough to kill him. She didn't want that.

However, she really didn't know anything. Orochimaru had asked her to bring Naruto to him – she didn't even know why he wanted her to do it over someone else – but he'd never given her a reason other than his promise to revive Obito the way he'd brought back Moriko-chan in the woods when he'd first appeared before her.

She could tell him that, she _had_ told him that, but he didn't seem to believe her. For whatever reason, he still thought that she had some deeper relationship with Orochimaru. "I don't know anything. You _know_ I don't know anything. Why don't you just go tell Ibiki that he can do what he knows he should have done with me a while ago and end all of this?"

Kakashi's mask shifted as he frowned. "Why would I need to tell him? He decides when he's gotten everything he can out of a prisoner, not me."

Rin sighed in annoyance. "I might be locked in this cage because I was dumb enough to not kill you when I had the chance, but I'm not an idiot. He barely even asks me any questions anymore and he hasn't so much as laid a finger on me in months. The only reason I'm not dead is because you've either promised him something or are cashing in a personal favor."

"I'm sure I have no idea what you're talking about."

Rin sighed and did her best not to smile. She really was angry at him, but it was hard not to enjoy his feigned stupidity. "How is it that you are such a spectacular liar to everyone but me?"

"You've known me long enough to see through it, I guess."

"Or maybe you just channel Obito and his ridiculous lies whenever we're together to torture me?" She'd meant it as a joke, but by the time she got to the end, it sounded more like an accusation.

"You know that's not it."

She didn't, but it was probably true. "Yeah, I know." She turned so she could look at him and said, "I don't know anything, Kakashi, and I don't want you keeping me alive so you can torture yourself over how things turned out. Just tell Ibiki it's over and walk away. You don't even have to think about me anymore, I won't mind."

The door behind them opened and a man dressed as an ANBU entered. Kakashi glanced back at him and nodded. His time with the prisoner was up.

"Tell him," Rin urged him as he rose to his feet.

Kakashi's one visible eye rested on her face for a long moment and then he looked away. "What makes you think that I've forgiven you for what you did to my student?" he asked. "Maybe keeping you alive, is just a sign of my level of hatred."

Rin stared at him for a moment and then shook her head. "Liar. If you really hated me, I could live with it. The only reason this is painful is because you _don't_ hate me. You just hate yourself."

Kakashi shrugged, no longer looking at her. "Believe what you want."

Rin watched as he walked past the ANBU and then her eyes widened in surprise as the masked-ninja's hand shot out without warning and caught Kakashi in the side of the head. The punch slammed Kakashi's head into the doorframe with a sickening crunch.

His body went instantly went limp as he crumpled to the floor.

The ANBU walked, haltingly towards her and slowly reached a hand towards the seal on the door to her cell. His fingers trembled as he unlocked the door and them pulled it open. "Orochimaru—ergh—sama sends his gree… greetings… damn it…"

Rin stood and walked out of her prison, her bare feet padding silently across the cool stone. She pulled her long brown hair away from her dirty face and looked down at Kakashi for a moment before turning towards the ANBU who was still facing her.

His whole body seemed to be trying to do two things at once. The part that was winning was keeping him standing in his spot, but there also seemed to be a command demanding that he attack her. It was almost amusing to see and she found herself wondering if his face would reveal more of what was happening to him.

"Y-you… you need t-t-to change into my clothes so you can – damn it – move about… the… the v-village."

A smile formed on Rin's lips. "Somehow, I get the feeling that this wasn't your idea, was it?"

ooo

Naruto was sitting on his couch, staring off into space and thinking about a whole host of things that he knew weren't good for him to dwell on. People recovering from long periods of confinement were probably not supposed to spend… however long he'd been sitting there… thinking about whether or not they were practically the same as their jailors. They also weren't supposed to wonder if it wouldn't have been better if they'd just found a way to kill themselves while in their prison. Or to think that perhaps they'd made a colossal mess out of their lives and that everyone might have been better off if they'd never existed at all.

They were depressing topics, but he didn't necessarily feel depressed as he thought about them. He didn't feel happy either, for that matter. His brain was detached from his heart for the moment. He wasn't a logical or analytical person by nature, but for the moment he was enjoying the sensation of not feeling anything.

A clone, the one on the roof, released itself after creating its successor to the post, alerting him to the fact that Hinata was coming to visit him.

His heart and head reunited with such force that it almost hurt. He was always happy to see Hinata. She and Sakura were probably the only people that he really felt at ease (or close, anyway) with since returning from Orochimaru's prison. Hinata caused him far more headaches than Sakura, but not in a way that was wholly unpleasant. She just made him worry, more than anything.

The knock on his door came a few minutes later, but was actually quite a while later than he expected it. He hadn't really timed himself or anyone else for that matter, but it seemed to him that she should have arrived much sooner than she had from the memory he'd received.

"It's open, Hinata-chan," he called out.

She opened the door and he caught sight of her confused eyes before she looked down. The reason for her confusion wasn't hard to guess. This was at least the second time she'd come calling and he'd made it clear that he was expecting her before she even opened the door.

"I'm not psychic or anything," he told her, "but your shampoo makes your hair smell like those weird little purple flowers Ino sells in her mom's shop."

"I-it does?" Hinata asked, taking a few strands of hair and placing them near her nose, apparently worried that the smell was too strong.

"It's nice," he assured her. He wondered how far she'd let him take the joke before actually looking up at him. "I can smell it as soon as you enter the building, so I always know when you're coming." He smiled broadly, hoping that she would look up and grace him with a smile of her own.

She didn't.

"I'm joking," he told her as he walked towards her, carefully watching her face, or what he could see of it behind the hair that was hiding most of it. "There was a shadow clone on the roof… he, uh, let me know…" The way she was carrying herself made him extremely nervous. She was wearing her "bad news" posture.

"Oh," Hinata said as she stepped slowly, almost reluctantly through the door, her eyes still firmly fixed to the floor. Naruto could guess what had taken her so long now. He was almost certain that she'd stopped at some point along the way, perhaps just outside his door, and debated whether or not she wanted to go on.

"I… I am not sure if this is something you will care about," she said softly, not even bothering with pleasantries which was yet another sign that he didn't want to hear what she was going to say, "b-but I feel that I should tell you. I don't want to tell you something that will upset you the way I think this will, but if you f-found out some other way… it would be worse, I think."

"Hinata-chan, whatever you have to say, I doubt it's that bad. Just tell me, I'm sure it will be fine," Naruto told her in as reassuring a voice as he could manage. In all honesty, he was pretty sure it _could_ be that bad. She'd given him plenty of bad news in the future, after all. As messed up as the future was, this timeline seemed to be doing its best to top it.

"H-Hiroshi-san… asked to see me… um, socially."

"He asked you out?!?"

"Yes."

Dread filled Naruto's chest. "What did you say?"

"I said yes… and I have already gone with him."

Naruto reached up and pinched the bridge of his nose. She was right, it _was_ bad. "Hinata-chan, I—"

She shook her head, holding up a hand to stop him. "F-forgive me, Naruto-kun, but please… please just let me say what I have to say." Naruto closed his mouth, though it took a considerable amount of effort. "I… I have cared about you for a long time. I will always care about you. You are my best friend… but I-I need to accept that all we will be is best friends. That is all you want and… and it is for the best. Hiroshi-san is kind and he cares for me."

"Hinata-chan, he—"

"He _does_, Naruto-kun," she said firmly. Naruto wasn't sure if it was her tone of voice or just the fact that she interrupted him without apologizing, but he found that he was unable to hold up his end of the argument. "I told him what you said. I felt b-bad for doing it, but I needed to know what he would say. He… he agreed with you. He told me that he w-was that sort of person before he was captured."

Hinata swallowed hard and forced her head up until she met his eyes. "Naruto-kun, you helped me change myself… you helped me change more than I thought possible. Even before we were friends, you k-kept me from going the wrong way. You inspired me. Without you, I would have been nothing. I would have been useless to my clan, useless to the village, useless to… to you. Hiroshi-san has been changed as well. He is a _good_ man."

Naruto ignored the last line; he didn't want to hear that. "Hinata-chan, you would never have been useless to me. Even if you weren't a good ninja, you would still have been a good person. That's not useless." He took a deep breath and then said, "As for Hiroshi… look, I just… I know people can change, but there are some people who… I mean, if he hasn't changed, it would be like him to claim that he changed just to get to you."

Hinata shook her head. "Forgive me for this rudeness, Naruto-kun, but you are b-blinded by your hatred of him. You h-have that right, after what you went through, but I'm afraid that your judgment of him is not mine. Hiroshi is good and kind and I… I _care_ for him."

She waited for a moment, but Naruto didn't have anything to say to that. Things were falling apart and he didn't have firm enough ground under his feet to get his balance and form a coherent thought, much less speak it out loud.

Hinata's hand started to move forward, almost as if she meant to touch him, but the movement died before it was even half completed. "I hope that you won't be angry with me for doing what I feel is right for me."

Again, he had nothing to say.

"Have a good day, Naruto-kun." She turned and started to walk away.

Things were spiraling out of control and Naruto couldn't seem to keep up with them.

_'No,'_ Naruto couldn't hear it. He couldn't take it. She could have had her pick of almost anyone in the village and she could have chosen any one of them and he probably wouldn't have reacted this way, but not him. Not Hiroshi. Anyone but him. '_I can't accept this. I can't let him have her. I won't let that happen again. He can't be allowed to win. Anyone, but him.'_

_'I won't lose to him.'_

_'I can't lose to him.'_

"I can't lose you." Some part of his brain registered that those weren't the exact words that he'd meant to say, but he didn't really care at the moment. They were just as true as the one's he'd intended to tell her.

Hinata stopped and looked back at him, smiling kindly. "You won't lose me, Naruto-kun. I w-will always be your friend."

She took two steps before Naruto's hand shot out and caught her by the wrist. She turned back, her eyes confused, and her lips turned downward in a frown. Her skin seemed to burn against his and for some reason he found himself taking a step towards her. And then another.

Her eyes widened as his body neared hers and he thought he felt a tremble shiver its way down her arm and into her fingertips. At some point, his hand had slipped off her wrist and was now around her hand.

He swallowed hard, his mouth suddenly dry, as his eyes focused on her lips. He wasn't sure when it happened, but it felt like her face was closer than it ought to have been, and it kept getting closer. It took a half-second for him to realize that he was leaning towards her and another half-second to realize what exactly he intended to do.

Hinata's eyes closed of their own accord the tip of her tongue wet the bottom of her top lip and a ragged breath slipped out of her mouth. He could feel the warmth of her breath, the heat radiating from her face, the smoothness of her nose as his own brushed against it.

A part of his brain, a very tiny, quiet, easily ignored part was still functioning and knew what was happening. It might not have understood the why, but it knew that her scent – both the flowery stuff from her shampoo and the natural scent of her skin – was filling his nostrils, that her appearance was pleasing, that her touch was pleasurable, that she cared for him, loved him, and that his hormones – the tricky bastards – had somehow shut down all other reasoning centers in his brain while he was distractedly trying to keep her from doing something stupid.

Now it was his turn to do something stupid, and for a brief moment, he didn't care. All his worries, all his responsibilities, everything was gone for that one perfect moment and he hadn't even had to consciously let them go. They had vanished all on their own, freeing him to do whatever subconscious brain decided it wanted to do. He didn't even really have to think about it.

"N-naruto-kun…" Hinata whispered, her voice pleading, almost desperate. It was barely loud enough for him to hear and could easily have been ignored had it not brought back an inkling of reality, of responsibility. "P-please… please d-don't."

He almost ignored her anyway. Almost. Had that one tiny piece of his brain fully succumbed to the pleasant buzzing sensation that had enveloped the rest of him, he wouldn't have even heard her and thoughts of reality would have remained safely tucked away in the deep recesses of his mind.

But he did hear her and the way she'd said it made him think and thinking led him to the conclusion that there might be tears in her eyes. He pulled back and opened his eyes, not even sure when they'd closed, and found that he was right. A small, thin tear was slowly travelling down her cheek from her still-closed eyes.

Naruto let out the breath that he'd been holding. Suddenly the spell was broken and realization of what he was doing and, more importantly, who he was doing it to, flooded over him. "Shit," he hissed as he took a large step back. "Shit, I'm sorry, Hinata-chan… I didn't…"

"No! No, don't say sorry," she shook her head hard, sending a cascade of dark hair over her shoulders. "Please… don't say sorry. I just… I can't do that. I know that you hate Hiroshi-san, that you hate the idea of me being with him, but if you'd… my heart couldn't take it. So please… don't say sorry, but also… don't do that to me, Naruto-kun. Not when you… not unless you mean it."

Naruto stared at her for a long moment, drinking in everything about her. There was little conviction in her voice. She was begging him to do what was right because she didn't think she had the strength to resist him. The problem was that what she thought was right and what he thought was right were two different things. For her, right was respecting her decision and not using her to get back at Hiroshi. For him… he wasn't even sure what he thought was right in this situation anymore. Definitely he didn't want her to be with Hiroshi, but that was about all he was certain of.

Still, it was his question about love all over again. What did it excuse? If he didn't love her as a man loves a woman, and he was moderately certain – far less certain than he'd been five minutes earlier – that he didn't, then what right did he have to do something like that to her heart? Did love excuse him manipulating her away from Hiroshi – even if the desire for that manipulation was only subconscious – whom she'd apparently chosen of her own free will?

He couldn't argue that this was the Hyuuga Elders doing or that she'd been tricked into it… at least it was a weak argument since he'd warned her what was happening.

Naruto wanted to take a step towards her. He wasn't sure if it was because he actually wanted to kiss her or just wanted to see if she would back away from him or stay where she was. Regardless, he wasn't willing to do that to her. No matter the reasons, in his heart he knew that love wouldn't excuse it.

It wouldn't excuse it because, in the end, he didn't know if he would be doing it because of her or Hiroshi. She'd told him in the future, when he hadn't realized what she was talking about, that if something like this was done for the wrong reason it would be worse than it not happening at all because she'd always wonder what his true feelings had been.

He didn't want her to have to carry that burden… and he couldn't convince her that his feelings were true when he wasn't even sure of his reasons either. He definitely hated Hiroshi. Even if he was different in this timeline (and Naruto wasn't convinced that he was), he still couldn't forgive him for what he would have done had Orochimaru not captured and tortured him. If it took a year of torture and imprisonment to fix him, then he was definitely not the sort of person that deserved to be with Hinata.

Of course, the fact that she'd had feelings for him for so long and that he'd been too dense to realize it, coupled with his uncertainty as to whether he had just nearly kissed her because he cared for her or because it would keep her away from Hiroshi probably meant that he wasn't the sort of person who deserved to be with her either.

And then there was the age thing…

He blanched. '_Oh god, I'm some sort of pervert… what the hell was I thinking?!?_'

The answer, of course, was that he _hadn't_ been thinking. Not in the slightest. He'd watched her start to walk away and he'd just reacted. There hadn't been a plan or anything like that when he'd grabbed her wrist to stop her, he'd felt the tingle of excitement that a teenage body feels when a pretty young woman is so tantalizingly close, and he'd drowned in the veritable sea of hormones that swept over him.

It had just… happened.

He looked into her eyes, noting the strange mix of hope and despair on her face, and whispered, "What do you really want me to do, Hinata-chan? I can't make this decision. I can't let him… I don't want him to have you; I don't want you to chose him. So, tell me what to do. This isn't fair to you, but it has to be your decision."

She lowered her eyes and gave her head a small, weak shake. "I know who this is about, Naruto-kun, and it isn't really me. I can't… please, just w-walk away."

Naruto felt like pointing out that they were in his apartment, but he knew what she meant. She'd made her choice and he'd told her that he'd do whatever she said; he was honor-bound to follow through.

Love wouldn't excuse him from breaking his word in this case.

He turned, walked to the window, and leapt out into the evening air, ignoring the rain clouds that had gathered overhead and the strong, cold breeze that promised a thunderstorm in the near future.

A drop of rain hit his face, then another and another. He didn't care.

Everything he tried to protect, everyone he tried to save… it all fell apart. The harder he tried, the more spectacular the crash.

_'I'm so fucking worthless, it's almost funny.'_ It didn't feel funny. It felt terrible.

ooo

Iwa was not going to just roll over and let Gaara crush them, that much was for sure. He was still slaughtering them, but it was now taking longer and he was being forced to use far more chakra protecting himself from large boulders and other jutsu that were flying at him while he went about doing it. The surprise had worn off long ago and the stronger members of Iwa's forces had converged on the area and were now doing what they could to take him down without dying too quickly themselves.

If all went according to plan, Temari and Kankuro should have been just about ready to launch a Suna counterattack, but in battles such as this one, things rarely went according to plan.

A boulder slammed into the shell surrounding Gaara with enough force to actually send him flying through the air for a moment before he was able to regain full control of the sand again. He let out a slow breath and did his best to ignore the trickle of sweat running down his face. He'd been fighting for a long time now and even before then had used a lot of chakra building up the wave of sand that he had threatened the village with. He was starting to feel the effects of his show of power.

Still, the piles of dead Iwa ninja in the streets, many of whom had died without ever even seeing him, were a testament to the chaos his show had caused.

Another rock slammed into his shell, but not before he caught the direction it had come from. His hand shot forward and the sands sought out the jounin who was attacking. The man didn't even have time to scream as his head was incased in sand and then crushed.

Three more Rock-nin ran out of a building while a fourth stepped around a corner and pressed his hands to the ground, sending a large stone block flying at him. Gaara made a swatting gesture and the sand knocked the projectile off course, then he thrust one had towards the attacker and the other towards the three who were fleeing. What looked like a claw made out of sand slammed into the attacking ninja, crushing him against the wall of a nearby building. One of the three who were running away stopped and started forming seals. A rock wall leapt out of the ground just before the sands reached him.

Unfortunately for him, the sand wasn't a projectile that could be blocked; it simply flowed around the wall like water, grabbed hold of the ninja, and crushed him before moving on after the other two. A second later, the area once again appeared quiet.

Suddenly, a small cheer went up from off to his left. Gaara turned and found five Rock-nin who had been hiding behind a large pile of rubble. He wouldn't have noticed them had one not stood and started pointing down a side street. The others stood and cheered with him, but for some reason it sounded forced. He couldn't see all of their faces, but the one that was fully visible seemed to be smiling with his lips while his eyes remained terrified.

It was an expression Gaara had seen before. When he was a child, his father had personally taught him as often as he was able to, but had also ordered some of the older jounin to work with him. Whenever he'd met or exceeded expectations, he'd gotten that same look. Their lips would smile and tell him that he'd done well, but their eyes said they were waiting for him to kill them.

Gaara drifted forward slightly so he could see down the path the Rock-nin were pointing. Two men were walking, without hurrying, towards him. One was massive, easily standing a full meter above his companion, with what looked like red armor, a conical hat that matched his armor upon his head, and a weird object on his back that Gaara couldn't quite make out but it seemed to be smoking. Over the top of his armor, he wore what looked like a tattered gray gi. The other had bright red hair and a beard and was carrying a large bottle that looked like the type that often contained sake. He was wearing armor as well, but it was brown and shabby, the sort of leather protective gear that a bandit might piece together rather than the well maintained shell that the tall one was wearing.

Gaara's eyes shifted from the men pretending to be happy to see these two and then back to the newcomers. Whoever they were, the regular ninja were afraid of them, but also knew that they were strong. Those five had to have seen what Gaara had been doing to their companions, but they were acting as though they'd been saved (at least from him).

The only possible conclusion was that the two coming towards him were dangerous, very dangerous.

His hand shot forward, sending a wave of sand down the street. Just as it reached them, the giant swung at it and the wave of sand exploded.

Gaara stared in disbelief. Only one person had ever done that before – and even he had nearly turned into a toad a few seconds later as a side effect to whatever it was that he'd used to do it – he hadn't thought that anyone other than Naruto could possibly have possessed that sort of power.

The two continued walking as though being attacked a wave of sand and destroying it was nothing out of the ordinary. Despite his better judgment, Gaara was intrigued. So long as they were wearing Iwa hitai-ate, he fully intended to kill them, but now he wanted to wait and see them up close. The way their fellow Rock-nin treated them and the display of power that seemed similar to Uzumaki Naruto's left him with the unshakable thought that they might be the same as he and Naruto.

Somehow, Gaara had the feeling that they weren't going to start begging him to be their friend the way Naruto had.

"Ah, damn it," the red haired one grumbled, taking a swig of the bottle that he was carrying as he spotted the carnage in the area. "Look what ya did. The Tsuchikage'll be pissin' fire after he hears about this…"

He looked around for a moment and then shrugged. "Well, what's done is done. No one told me to do anything about this, so I don't care." He turned and gave a dismissive wave, "Carry on."

The larger man rolled his head towards the shorter one and then reached out and flicked his wrist. The force of what looked like it should have been a light blow knocked his companion off his feet and sent the bottle flying out of his hand. It shattered against a wall not far from where the red haired man landed.

"Stop being lazy, Roshi," the giant said, looking up at Gaara. His mouth was hidden behind a mask – that matched the red armor that covered the rest of his body, but his light-brown, almost pink colored, eyes danced beneath the unscratched shield of his hitai-ate. "This one is interesting."

Roshi's fingers trembled as he touched the remains of his bottle and then brought the liquid up to his lips and tasted it. "Interesting is fine, but that's no reason to go spilling my drink!" he yelled as he jumped to his feet. "That was some of the good stuff!"

"I'll get you some more when we're done. Maybe you can drink it from this one's hollowed out skull."

Roshi rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Han, you're the only one who would want to do such a thing."

Han continued to stare up at Gaara, his eyes still dancing with delight. "He's strong. I think I might get to use a little of my power this time."

Roshi shrugged. "It still doesn't have anything to do with me. You can handle him on your own… you definitely didn't need to break my bottle."

"If you bring that up one more time, I'll kill you."

"Are you saying you need my help?" Roshi asked with a lazy voice that seemed to completely dismiss the threat.

"Of course not."

"Then have fun. When you're done, you owe me a drink." Han's hand shot out, aimed at Roshi's head. Roshi swatted it away as though it were a fly. "If you're going to try to kill me, you'll have to actually put some power behind that punch," he said as he turned and walked back towards the broken bottle. "Don't take too long."

Han glared at him for a moment, but then looked up at Gaara and went back to smiling. "Don't rush my fun."

Gaara frowned. Han was definitely different from Naruto – in fact, he seemed pretty similar to how Gaara had once been – though Roshi seemed a bit closer in temperament. Regardless of whether or not they had monsters in them, they obviously were going to treat him like an enemy. Trying to talk to them would have to wait until he'd broken them down a little. Han was definitely not the sort who would want to do anything but destroy as much as he could.

"Are you ready?" the giant called up to him.

Before Gaara could respond, Han was in front of him. The sand surged up to protect him, but was a fraction of a second too slow. Han's enormous fist slammed into him, sending him crashing into the wall of a building and leaving him feeling as though every bone in his body had been broken. The impact left a small crater in the wall that Gaara slowly peeled away from as gravity began to pull him down. He reached out his hand and the sands swept up around him, catching him before he fell and keeping him in the air.

The sand that he kept packed around his body like armor cracked and started to fall off in places.

_'Such power,'_ he gasped as he shook his head, trying to clear his vision.

"Ho, still alive?" Han laughed in delight. "This _will _be fun!"

ooo

Naruto ran without a destination. He told himself that he wasn't running away, but it was a lie. He was running, fleeing, from what was back in his apartment. Not Hinata, necessarily, though she was part of it, but from what she and what had happened represented. The farther away he got, the more he understood it… and the more he hated it.

He was running away from what was happening, wanting more than anything for it to stop. He wanted control, he wanted his plans, his manipulations that he'd somehow grown accustomed to.

What was back in that apartment was not a plan. It was life. Real life. Life that wasn't in his control, where crazy things happened and he had to deal with them or die.

He'd been playing a game where he knew all the pieces, made nearly all the moves, and got to play towards an ending that he thought he could see. His friends, if these people were truly that, were like his puppets, his toys. He could see the paths that their lives should take and he moved them down those paths. For a while it had worked. Maybe it was because he was always there, never really letting them live without his guidance (whether they recognized it or not). Maybe it was because they were young enough to be so easily manipulated.

While he was gone though, a strange and terrible thing had happened. They'd started recognizing the paths and making choices of their own. Some of the choices were ones that he liked, others were ones that scared him.

Hinata, of all people, had rebelled the most. She'd been the one he controlled most thoroughly, but she was now the one making the biggest moves away from what he'd planned for her.

Sasuke and Sakura seemed to have mostly continued on the path he'd set out for them, but at their own pace and completely independent of him. If they suddenly decided to elope or go join Akatsuki, he probably wouldn't be able to stop them any more than he could predict the change.

He hated life. Hated the mess it was making. Hated the pain that it could cause and the death that it promised as the final reward. He hated that he couldn't control the ones he loved. Hated that they were living their own lives and making their own decisions without his permission.

He wasn't sure when he'd lost his way, but there was one thing he was certain about: this wasn't something Orochimaru had done to him. This was something from before the captivity.

When had he started thinking he could run their lives better than they could? When had he thought that he had that responsibility? That right?

It wasn't something he'd thought or done when he was younger. Not back when Sakura was alive or when Sasuke was on Team Seven with him. Had it started when he became the Hokage? Or earlier, when he and his friends had destroyed Akatsuki? When so few of them came back?

The answer was somewhere in there, he knew. It was also in something Konohamaru had once said about him, the statement that in a roundabout way had caused the poor boy's death: Naruto felt the deaths of his friends more strongly than most because he'd been without those bonds for so long.

To him, every friend was precious, even people he barely knew instantly became important to him, and when those people died, it ripped his heart out. When he failed, it cut so deep that it never really healed.

There had been too much failure, too many deaths of precious friends in his life. Now, with this beautiful new chance at getting things right, he'd taken steps to keep that pain away. He'd done everything in his power to run his friend's lives for them because when they'd been in charge of their lives, they'd all died.

He couldn't trust them with something that could hurt him so much.

And yet, trusting people like that was what friends did. They gave a little piece of their heart to their friend and trusted them to keep it safe. Without that trust, he couldn't really be their friend. Without that trust, claiming to love them was just empty words.

If he loved them, he would have to really be their friend. If he was going to really be their friend, he would have to trust them. He would have to give them his heart and trust them not to break it.

He wasn't sure he could do it anymore. He'd seen how easy it was to kill them, what would stop it from happening a second time?

The answer was obvious.

"I will," he whispered as he bounced off a wall and propelled himself up onto a rooftop.

The problem was, in his present condition, every single one of them was probably as strong or stronger than he was. It would have to change and change quickly. Orochimaru would be on the move soon, if he wasn't already, and Akatsuki was supposed to become active around this time as well. He was probably as strong as he'd been when he first came back from training with Jiraiya, but he would have to get stronger.

More than that, he would have to figure out a way to get past the fear that gripped his heart every time he even thought about Orochimaru or trying to protect his precious people.

Just as he started to wonder about how he would deal with that, he realized that he wasn't alone on the roof. He spun on his heel and brought his hands together, but stopped as an ANBU appeared in front of him.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Hokage-sama has summoned you."

"Why?"

"It doesn't matter."

Naruto was about to argue that it _did_ matter, when suddenly an explosion erupted a few blocks away. The great fireball lifted high into the dark sky, ignoring the rain pouring down on it.

Naruto turned and said, "Go find everyone and make sure they're safe, but don't let any of them see you." If the ANBU thought it was strange that Naruto was talking to thin air, he didn't show it, nor did he seem surprised when several Narutos stepped out of that same thin air and took off in different directions.

"I'm ready," he said as soon as they were gone.

The ANBU turned towards the Hokage Tower and said, "I hope so." Then they were off.

ooo

Yugito looked up as the dark sky was lit up by the explosion from within the village.

"Finally," she said as she stood and walked towards the center of the camp. She looked around at the Cloud-nin gathered there. Other commanders might have given moving or inspiring speeches before climactic battles, but Yugito wasn't that sort of commander and, even if she was, none of them cared to hear it from her. A speech from her would have been the same as a speech from a large kunai; weapons were for killing, not motivating the troops. "You all know your assignments, go do them."

Samui, Karui, and Omoi were at her side in an instant, their arrival silent except for the clicking of Omoi's lollipop against his teeth as he shifted it from one side of his mouth to the other.

"It's raining," Omoi noted pointlessly, "I hope that I remembered to close all the windows in my apartment before I left. If I didn't, my carpet will be all wet, and then it might get moldy and…"

"I doubt the storm extends all the way back to Kumo," Karui said with a roll of her eyes.

"It doesn't matter," Yugito said, cutting their argument off before their bickering could pick up steam, "the only storm we should worry about is the one that's about to crush Konoha."

"We're with you," Samui said as she ran her hand through her short blond hair.

"I don't care," Yugito replied, "just stay out of my way when I find the Kyuubi's jinchuriki."

o

o

A/N: Sorry this is so late. It was an unfortunate convergence of me being slow and TimeShifter heading out of town just when I sent it to him (for some strange reason he didn't drop everything to beta my chapter… some people's priorities are just skewed). Anyway, in the end, this chapter didn't really get proofread by anyone but me. By the time TS got back, I was antsy and had discovered changes that I wanted to make, so I just did it myself. If there's a lot of spelling errors, you know where the blame goes.

On TS for not changing his plans to suit my whims, of course! ;P

Well, hopefully you all enjoyed this chapter. Was it still depressing? I've gotten some complaints about the last few chapters being downers, so hopefully this one wasn't _too_ bad. What I've been trying to get to – without forcing it – was Naruto's realization that Jiraiya is right. He's been manipulating everyone for so long, that he's not really being their friend nor letting them live. Now that they actually _are_ living without his help, he's a bit lost and scared and confused. Of course, I could have just had him reach that conclusion right from the get go, but it didn't feel natural. For some reason, my brain demanded that he slowly work his way to where he's at by the end of this chapter. Still not happy-fun times, but he's found the path that gets him out of the valley as soon as he finds the nerve to take it. Incidentally, that path is not hooking up with Hinata – in case there's any confusion – it's living this life rather than the one that he had in the future and protecting his friends instead of trying to run their lives… if he hooks up with Hinata, that will just be something he finds along this new path…. which is actually just the old one that he lost.

Also, I expect a lot of apologies (I'm teasing) from the "Danzo can't be Hokage, that's just stupid" crowd. Apparently his age, power, ability, and possible physical handicaps don't disqualify him from the position. I think that's the second bit of canon that I correctly predicted while writing this story (the other being Orochimaru in Sasuke), now all I need is for Kishi to show that Rin actually is still alive and have Orochimaru return as the true main villain and I'll be set!

The next chapter might possibly be up in a week and a half, but I can't make promises on that. I'm leaving Saturday and going to Washington DC for a week. I'll have a laptop, and I could work on the chapter during down time, but a history major like myself is practically in heaven in DC, so getting my brain back on Naruto might be tough (replies to reviews will probably be negligible as well). If I get to I get to it, but if I don't hopefully you'll understand the reason for the delay.

At least I have a good excuse this time! Plus, I'll do you a favor (or at least I think it's a favor) and recommend a great (though not yet finished) story. Blazing Waves, Burning Rain by Ormiss is spectacular. It's a Suikoden III story that (if you know that RPG) is ChrisxHugo centric. I liked the story so much, I actually went out and bought the game and was then disappointed when it wasn't nearly as good as this story (though the game was certainly still good). Danger, excitement, mystery, slowly developing Romeo and Juliet style romance.... it's got it all and is really well written. So, if you get bored of waiting around for me, you can always give that a try (you don't even have to know the Suikoden series very well to enjoy it). If you do, please leave him/her a review as that story doesn't have nearly as many reviews as it deserves.

In the mean time, please leave _me_ a review and let me know what you thought.


	11. The Battle Begins

Chapter 10: The Battle Begins

o

A/N: To those who don't know, the names and bijuu of all the jinchuuriki have been revealed, so "Sajin" (the five-tails jinchuuriki from Iwa) is now "Han." -sigh- seriously, I should just stop naming canon characters. It seems like as soon as I do, Kishimoto comes out with a name for them (okay, it's only happened with Sarutobi and now Han, but still)! At least he had good timing with letting us know what all the different bijuu look like, that would have been a painful rewrite if he'd waited another month or so. Still, couldn't he have at least used a real animal for the Gobi? What the heck am I supposed to call that thing? Dolphin-horse? Horse-dolphin? Dorse? Horphin? -sigh #2- I just know as soon as I get into the next chapter with having my version of Han's powers explained and in use, Kishimoto is going to start a long flashback in the manga explaining what all of them could do and it will be nothing like my version… oh well, somehow I'll live…

Thanks to whoever left the anonymous review letting me know about the new art book, the information was extremely helpful.

o

Hinata stared at the window Naruto had jumped out of for a few seconds and then sighed, sagging against one of the apartment's walls. It was easier to think now that he was gone… but only just barely. The emotional strength it had taken to refuse him left her feeling winded and unable to hold back the questions that had been built up during the past few minutes, while he was talking with her and then when he was moving so tantalizingly close. Now that she couldn't keep them back, they rushed forward all at once, each demanding an answer that she was ill-equipped to provide.

What had he been doing? Why now? Would he really have done what he seemed to be intending to do before she stopped him? And, most importantly, why had she said _no_?!?

The last one, she suspected, was the pitiful result of the lovesick heart that had held onto unrequited feelings for far longer than was healthy. Still, it seemed to be the question that kept coming up most often.

The answer, of course, was that she didn't believe that Naruto wanted to kiss her, only to keep her away from Hiroshi. That was a terrible reason to get all her hopes up, to let herself fall in love with him all over again, and yet…

"You are a stupid, stupid girl," Hinata sighed to herself as she pushed away from the wall and straightened her shoulders.

She turned reluctantly towards the door. She needed to leave before Naruto came back. If she was still here, there was no telling what would happen. If he stepped close to her again, she doubted she'd have the strength to refuse him a second time, no matter how stupid she knew giving in to be.

Before she reached the door, however, the floor under her feet rumbled as an explosion went off somewhere in the village. In an instant, all thoughts of Naruto – or most, anyway – flew from her mind as she crossed the room and looked out the window, trying to find the location of the disturbance. She couldn't see much in the gloomy rain, but she could see the light of fire and the smoke rising from whatever was burning towards the northern part of the village.

For some reason, the relative location gave her pause as some thought tried to fight its way to the surface.

It took a few seconds, but finally it broke free and Hinata's eyes widened. If she traveled in a straight line towards the fire, she would be heading right for the Hyuuga clan's compound. Hinata started to climb out the window, but stopped as Naruto leapt from the roof of the building across the street and landed on the wall next to the window.

Despite the awkwardness of the situation they'd been in only a few minutes earlier, he didn't blush or give any hint that it was affecting him in the slightest. It was a strangely comforting sight for Hinata. Ever since he'd been rescued, Naruto had been distracted, angry, and confusing. It was a relief for her to see him suddenly looking so focused during a time when he needed to be just that.

"Come on, Hinata-chan, I need to get you back to your house."

Hinata climbed the rest of the way out of the window, pushing chakra into her feet so that she could stand on the wall with him. "Naruto-kun, I can get home by myself. I'm sure you have somewhere—"

"I'm already doing all the other stuff I need to be doing," he cut her off abruptly, his eyes darting to the side as another explosion rocked the village from a different direction than the first. He gave her a small smile and a wink and said, "I can be in lots of places at once."

She understood immediately what he was saying and, rather than continue to argue about whether or not she needed his help in getting home, jumped out and up so that she landed easily on the rooftop across from Naruto's apartment. She turned her eyes towards home and swallowed hard. The first explosion hadn't just come from the _direction_ of the Hyuuga compound.

It had come from the compound itself.

No words were needed as Naruto landed next to her. The two of them sprinted towards the edge of the roof and leapt towards Hinata's home.

ooo

"Do you understand what is required of you?" Danzo asked calmly as he leaned forward and watched Naruto with a dark eye that didn't seem to miss anything.

"Yes," Naruto answered in the same calm voice. "I will meet the Nibi in front of the Hokage Tower and fight her for as long as I am able."

Jiraiya, Tsunade, and a number of other jounin and even several of the village council members stood behind him. He was the last to receive his orders; he suspected that most had actually received their orders and been dismissed before he even arrived. Naruto could feel Jiraiya's eyes on his back and was certain that if he turned around he would see Tsunade and him fidgeting.

He didn't turn around, however.

They certainly had to know that Danzo was looking for ways to manipulate them. In fact, Naruto was certain that at least part of Danzo's plan of having a young, supposedly inexperienced, and very out of shape chuunin take on the enemy's strongest fighter was meant to maneuver Jiraiya and possibly Tsunade into the position Danzo wanted them in. Certainly it had at least had some bearing on keeping the two of them in the village after Naruto was rescued. Konoha needed two of its strongest shinobi and Danzo was not above putting someone like Naruto in danger to get them to do what he wanted them to.

"You understand that she has killed many of our chuunin and jounin during this war?"

A soft grumble reached Naruto's ears. Jiraiya was not happy with this plan. Naruto needed to send him some sort of message to let him know that it would be fine, without turning around and being obvious about it.

"I'm Konoha's weapon," he replied with an almost emotionless voice. "The Fourth gave his life to make me; I will give mine to make sure that I destroy whatever I am pointed at. It doesn't matter what she has done before, she won't be allowed to do it again. If I can't defeat her, I will push her to the point where another can step in and finish the job."

Danzo offered him a small smile. "Good. Keep in mind, however, that another stepping in to finish the job won't happen unless you fail. No one will come to save you," his eyes briefly shifted over Naruto's shoulder, at Jiraiya and Tsunade, and then returned to Naruto's face, "This is your mission and no one else's. The rest have their roles to play; they can't afford to worry about fixing your messes until after they are done with their own assignments."

Naruto did his best not to frown. He understood that Danzo was basically telling Tsunade and Jiraiya (and anyone else who cared to help Naruto) that they had to do their own jobs quickly if they wanted to help him. Which probably meant that the two Sannin, at least, were being sent into an area that was expected to have some very heavy fighting.

Even if he was trying to get some of his more powerful ninja to take out the largest groups of enemies before worrying about their friend, for him to basically say that he would allow no one to help someone in Naruto's condition with a fight that he had to be expected to struggle with… it was pretty outrageous. Even if everyone in the room understood that ninja were tools, what game could Danzo possibly be playing at that he would announce that the Hokage saw them that way? What good could it do?

And then realization struck. This wasn't part of a game; this was how Danzo saw everyone. He wasn't the Third, he wasn't Naruto; he didn't see the shinobi obeying his orders as people first, he really only saw them as tools. He didn't care if someone died, so long as they accomplished their mission because, to him, the mission was the important part. If they wanted to survive, that was something they could worry about after the mission was finished.

In some ways, Naruto didn't completely disagree with him – there were definitely some missions where the mission's completion even at the cost of the ninja's life served the greater good. He just didn't like the fact that Danzo seemed to hold that view without feeling any remorse for the lives lost.

"I understand. I won't fail."

Danzo nodded and lifted his one visible eye so that he was addressing the whole group. "Dismissed."

In an instant, the room was empty.

Danzo waited for a moment and then turned towards the window at the back of the room and let the frown that had been just below the surface appear briefly on his face.

"He understands more than he lets on," he mused as he watched the rain coming down and the occasional burst of light as the battle raged along the edges of the village, slowly working its way inward. "However, so long as he is loyal to the village, there will be no reason to adjust my plans."

He turned towards the corner of the room and motioned with his hand. "Your job is the most crucial of all, don't disappoint me."

A masked ninja stepped into view and bowed his head. "There will be no problems."

"Good, go get into position. She will most likely be here shortly."

The ANBU nodded and vanished in a small plume of smoke. Danzo turned back to the window and then glanced up at the pictures of his predecessors hanging on the wall. "Your foolishness led us to this point," he told them, "but I will turn even your stupidity into gain for Konoha."

ooo

For the life of him, Gaara could not understand Han.

Well, that wasn't really true. He understood the bloodlust, the desire to destroy anything or anyone who got in his way just because it was fun and somewhat fulfilling.

What he couldn't understand was Han's way of fighting. He was impressively fast for such a large man and incredibly strong, but that seemed to be the extent of it. There had been no less than three times when Gaara had intentionally moved into a position that should have caused Han to use some sort of ninjutsu, but each time he simply charged straight ahead and continued to rely almost exclusively on taijutsu.

A part of Gaara wondered if perhaps Han simply _couldn't_ use ninjutsu.

The sands carried Gaara higher into the air, far enough to stay out of range of his opponent so that he could destroy him at his leisure. Han tipped his red conical hat back a little so he could look up at Gaara. For a moment, he just stood there, staring almost thoughtfully up, and then he shook his head and cracked his neck.

"Trying to get away from me, huh? As if I'd let you!"

His knees bent and then he shot into the air, jumping far higher than Gaara had thought humanly possible. Even still, he wasn't going to get up high enough. While he was in the air, Han would be completely vulnerable. He couldn't change direction, he couldn't really attack; all he could do was wait until he came back down.

Gaara had no intention of letting him live long enough to touch the ground.

His right hand shot out and the sands followed, forming into the great clawed arm of Shukaku. The claws closed around Han and drove him into the remains of a nearby building.

Gaara had seen Han's strength and speed, and had no desire to let such an opponent escape now that he had him pinned down. His right hand still extended and clenched in a fist, he lifted his left and brought his fingers tightly together. Sand that had been swarming over his head like hungry locusts tightened to form a spike. Gaara held that pose for a second, and then his left hand stabbed forward. The sand spike instantly pierced the spot where Han was being held.

In that split second, Gaara felt the sand surrounding the other jinchuuriki explode as wave after wave of what looked like pink chakra erupted from the spot.

Despite being nearly a hundred meters away, Gaara had to lift his arms to protect himself from the flying debris being tossed around by the energy.

"Damn," Han grumbled as his large frame stepped out of the cloud of dust and sand he'd created, "who would have thought you'd push me this far already? Kind of pisses me off." With a wave of his hand, the cloud drifted away and settled. "I thought you might let me use a little bit of power before you died, but I didn't think I'd have to use _that_."

Gaara's dark-rimmed eyes widened at the sight of the giant. He was now surrounded by a definite pink aura that flickered in the wind like smoke as the three tails extending from it curled back and forth around his body. There were about four points extending from his head almost like horns.

"I frickin' hate this thing," Han continued with a sigh. "Goddamn Gobi will never let me forget that I had to borrow so much of its power just to kill a kid." He looked up at Gaara and shook his head. "Such a sissy way of fighting too…" The weird object on Han's back suddenly began to give off a large amount of what looked like smoke.

Gaara's surprise was forgotten instantly. He'd been trained since the day he could stand to be a ninja, he wouldn't just sit back and let his opponent attack, now when he was so uncertain about the outcome of the battle. He began forming seals as the sand beneath him lost its cohesiveness and he fell through it, dropping almost all the way to the ground before the sands once again caught him, slowing his descent just enough to keep the fall from hurting. He timed it so that he finished forming the seals at almost the exact moment that his feet hit solid ground.

A wave of sand erupted just in front of him, rising almost to the heights of the tallest remaining buildings, and then crashing down on Han. It had barely had a chance to settle before Gaara moved to slam his hands down onto the ground, intent on dragging Han as far underground as he could and then crushing him.

"It's already too late for that," Han's voice called out.

In spite of himself, Gaara looked up in shock. Han had not been swallowed by the wave of sand as he should have been, but instead was standing above the sands.

Not _on_ the sands, but _above _them, about ten centimeters above them.

With an almost disgusted look on what little of his face Gaara could see, Han waved his hand and the smoke or steam that was swirling around him, flew at Gaara. Gaara placed his hand on the ground and then waved it towards the sky. A wall of sand leapt up between him and Han, blocking the cloud.

Or so it seemed.

"Like I said, too late," Han said in a voice that sounded much farther away all of a sudden.

To Gaara's horror, the cloud began to pass over, around, and even through the sand wall.

"Much as I wish you would, you can't stop this shitty cloud," Han told him. "I'll be sure to give you a good death when the time comes. I'd prefer to fight more honorably, but," he snorted contemptuously, "let's face it, honor's not worth shit in a fight. Besides, I have a goddamn contradiction living inside me; you can't expect me to live up to my own ideals."

Gaara took a stumbling step backwards, choking on something he couldn't even smell or taste, and then the world around him began to grow black as the wall of sand crumbled and fell.

ooo

Jiraiya didn't think the word 'hate' was strong enough, not by a long shot. He didn't hate Danzo. He didn't despise Danzo. He didn't even _loath_ Danzo. He ultra-hated Danzo. He super-despised Danzo. He mega-loathed Danzo…

_'I should be able to come up with something better than that,'_ he grumbled to himself as he headed towards the spot he'd been assigned. _'No wonder my books don't sell unless I sex them up, I can't even come up with a better verb than _hate_ for this feeling. Maybe there just isn't a real word that actually describes it. Eh, I'll just have to make one up at some point. "Despouthate" has a nice ring to it.'_

Word construction was, perhaps, not the best use of his mind at the moment, but he couldn't bring himself to focus on the plan because that would only lead him back to thoughts of what he ought to have told Danzo to do with that plan. He was fairly certain that he could handle Yugito on his own; certainly he and Tsunade would be more than a match for her.

But Danzo didn't want them there. He'd rather have Naruto, who still looked so skinny he was practically transparent, fight against a seasoned jounin who happened to also be a jinchuuriki.

To be fair, Naruto had been Hokage in a future that would never be, and was also a jinchuuriki, but he wasn't that man anymore. He was a boy who had just had the crap kicked out of him for two years and was nowhere close to right in the head.

Besides, Danzo didn't know anything about what Naruto actually was. All he knew was that Naruto was a jinchuuriki and extremely weak at the moment. There was no logical reason to have him fighting someone like Yugito.

No, that wasn't true; there was no reason that would be logical to a normal person. Without a doubt, Danzo had a very logical reason for putting Naruto in this position. Just like he had a very logical reason for sending people who actually stood a real chance against her, namely Jiraiya and Tsunade, to the far side of the village where the main thrust of the invading Cloud-nin forces would be, putting them in a position to help a lot with the battle, but unable to help Naruto in the slightest.

Jiraiya was tempted to turn around and go back. Screw the plan, screw the village, screw it all. If he went back and saved Naruto, he could accept the consequences of being a missing-nin. Even after all these years, there was almost no one in the whole village who could track him down and kill or capture him.

But Naruto had his own plan. That was the only thing that kept Jiraiya from going back. As crazy as Naruto was, he had a plan. It might be the plan of an idiot – in fact, if it was Naruto's plan it was guaranteed to be the plan of an idiot – but it was a plan that he expected to be followed. Naruto didn't object in the slightest to anything Danzo said, he didn't squirm under the gaze of the Hokage, or give even the slightest hint that he wasn't completely loyal to Danzo.

He'd told Naruto, back when they'd talked about Naruto's lack of real friendships amongst all the people who would have been his friends in a different reality, that he and Tsunade would back him up. In fact, the only reason he was really willing to participate in this war was because he wanted to make sure that Naruto survived the battle despite his weakened state. When Naruto didn't even glance at him before, during, or after the meeting with Danzo, he knew the blond was telling him to play his role, but he didn't like it.

Not only was Naruto not ready for this fight, he wasn't nearly right enough in the head to make a good plan. For all Jiraiya knew, this was just Naruto's way of killing himself without letting the others feel very guilty about it.

_'No,'_ Jiraiya thought with a shake of his head, _'he wouldn't do that. He might get himself killed doing whatever the hell it is that he's planning, but it won't be on purpose. The dumbass thinks he has too many people's lives to run for him to let it all slip away now.'_

It wasn't a terribly convincing thought, but he chose to believe it anyway. Naruto would not only _not_ go into the fight planning on dying; he would win, because he was Minato's son.

The tall wooden wall in front of Jiraiya exploded as the battle began. Jiraiya pushed his fears for Naruto out of his head and brought his fingers together, preparing to summon one of the toads.

As he slammed his hand down on the ground, his brain offered one last amendment to his thoughts on Naruto.

Naruto wouldn't win because he was Minato's son; he would win because in his heart and head he was Konoha's Hokage.

"Common on, Gamahiro," Jiraiya said as he crossed his arms and looked down from his now-elevated position on the invading Cloud-nin army, "a Hokage is expecting us to carry this plan out perfectly so we can meet up with him after he finishes his fight, let's not keep him waiting."

ooo

Feet sloshed through the wet mud as the Cloud-nin forces moved through the streets. Most had orders to kill as few civilians as possible, especially while Konoha's ninja were still a threat, and most followed them. There were a few, however, who remembered the last war with Konoha and still recalled the death of their Councilman, Sinobi Gashier, at the hands of Hyuuga Hiashi. Receiving the body of the murderer hadn't softened their rage over an attack during what were supposed to be peace negotiations. It had been over a decade, but anger was still there, just waiting for the chance to bubble up again.

Because of this, and plenty of other injustices by Konoha, but real and imagined, many of the Cloud-nin were less discriminate in who they targeted. Before long, more than one area of the village soon found its streets muddy not only because of the rain falling from heaven, but also from the blood of bodies that did not find shelter quickly enough.

Yugito felt none of these things as she and Samui's team moved swiftly through the village. She had been very young during the previous war, too young to really participate and already ostracized for the monster within her. Back then, she might have felt that same anger and hatred and wanted revenge, but she'd grown too jaded over the years. She would do her duty, but she felt no hatred towards Konoha... no more hatred than she felt towards anywhere else, at least. They were enemies in this war, but, given enough time, they might be allies in the next. There was no reason to hate them for being born in a different village and being forced to follow the orders of a different leader.

A young man, or possibly woman – it was difficult to guess in such a short period of time as the rain splashed down on them – stepped in front of her, a kunai in hand. Without a word of instruction, Omoi and Karui had crossed paths in front of the ninja. By the time Yugito stepped over him, a great red X had appeared on his chest as he fell, wide eyed, into the street and his blood began to mix with the rain and mud.

There was a cry of anguish off to their left as a child ran out into the street and threw himself over the body. Younger sibling? Child? It was impossible to tell and Yugito was already too far down the street to make more than a guess. It didn't really matter. If the child was smart, he would realize that his loved one had been dead before the body even hit the ground and would find cover before he met a similar fate. If he wasn't smart... well, sooner or later some revenge-minded moron would find him and they could fight over whose village was responsible for more bloodshed.

All of the Cloud-nin had orders to alert her if they came across Konoha's jinchuuriki before they engaged him (so that even if he killed them, she would at least know roughly where he was), but unless summoned elsewhere, she was going to head straight for the Hokage Tower and begin her primary mission: destroying the village's leadership.

It was possible, likely even, that they would already have evacuated, but that was fine. The Tower was a source of security for the villagers, just as the great stone faces on the mountain behind them were; its destruction or capture would be a demoralizing blow to Konoha.

If it was Kumogakure that was being attacked, Yugito was certain that she would have been called to protect the Raikage and the village council (though the Raikage certainly didn't need her protection). Perhaps she wouldn't have to worry about finding Konoha's jinchuuriki; maybe he would find her when she reached her target.

They rounded a corner, sprang onto a rooftop – quickly dispatching the three ninja they found up there – and then leapt into the air and dropped down in front of the Hokage Tower. There were only a few lights on in the Tower as well as a few lamps in the area surrounding it, but the moment she landed, Yugito didn't care about it or any other building.

A young blond man wearing a blue shirt and orange pants stood in front of her, his arms folded across his chest. He ignored the rain beating down on him as he stared at her through the blond bangs hanging partially in front of his eyes. The light of a nearby lamp made it impossible to miss him and also allowed her to see the three lines on each of his cheeks that resembled whiskers.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto," he told her softly, his eyes not quite meeting hers. "I'm the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki."

Yugito frowned, instantly suspicious. "Are you an idiot? Why would you announce something like that?"

"You're looking to fight me, right?" he asked. "If you know who I am, you won't hurt anyone else."

"You make it sound like you think you're going to beat me."

"Nothing personal," he replied. His words were those that should have been delivered with a cocky laugh or perhaps even a calm boredom that showed how little he thought of her, but instead they came out as if he was reading a script. He wasn't bored with her; he was simply not engaged in what was happening. His mind was elsewhere and his spirit wasn't such that it could sustain any sort of emotional response to what was happening around him. "To me, you seem like the sort who would be beaten by one or two members of an organization that I'd wipe from the face of the earth." Despite his words, he had a look of defeat on his face.

Yugito almost asked what he was talking about, almost asked what was wrong with him, but decided that neither mattered. Her orders were to take out Konoha's jinchuuriki and Konoha's leadership, starting with whomever she met first. If the boy was a jinchuuriki (and he matched the description of the reports) then her job was clear. Letting the conversation go on any longer would only give the Hokage and/or village council more time to run and hide.

"Stay here and watch for traps or reinforcements," she told Samui and her team. "If you see the Hokage or anyone else who looks like they might be running this village, kill them."

They nodded in understanding and leapt back towards the nearest building, taking up positions that would allow them to watch the fight in case she needed help and also to spot anyone trying to leave the Hokage Tower.

Yugito ignored them as she charged towards Naruto, her hand already holding a kunai.

ooo

Sasuke didn't turn back to get Sakura after the first explosion, though it was tempting to make sure that she was okay. He knew, of course, that she was fine since there were no attacks happening in their immediate area and she couldn't possibly have run to where there were some in the brief moment between when he left her at the restaurant and when he felt the first explosion. Still, he felt the small tug in the back of his mind that said he should go check on her just to be sure.

He couldn't allow himself to let those feelings rule him. Two years ago he'd told her that there wouldn't be anything between them and he'd meant it.

Well, it seemed like he'd meant it. The truth was more complicated than that. He and Sakura were friends, after all, and he hadn't been strong enough to push that bit of comfort away. Unfortunately, because they were friends, they spent time together. Bound tightly by the fact that they were on the same team and that they were both at least slightly obsessed (he leaned more towards "totally") with saving their friend, they spent a large portion of their free time training or eating together. Kakashi occasionally joined them, but for the most part they were alone.

Being alone with Sakura made it hard for him to keep thinking of them without using the words "we" and "us," as he'd warned her not to do shortly after the first, failed, mission to save Naruto.

He'd told her that there was only him and his missions. He'd said it to hurt her so she would stay away or at least not demand – even if she never voiced the demand – more of him than he could give her.

She hadn't really taken the hint and, as the months and years passed, he found that rather than demanding things of him, she was simply taking them little by little. Sometimes he didn't even recognize the changes in their relationship until they'd been happening for so long he couldn't really stop them without turning it into a fight. He would just be sitting quietly in his apartment and suddenly would realize that without his permission or her requesting it, they were scheduling training sessions, together, during most of their brief periods of free time or were planning on having lunch and dinner together whenever they were both in the village.

What she'd said a moment earlier in the restaurant, about it looking for all the world like they were dating, she was right. If anyone described their relationship to him, without using their names, he would have assumed that it was a committed couple being described.

How the hell had she done it?!?

The answer, apparently, was: Naruto.

Naruto had given her the idea. Naruto had pushed her in the only direction that would make her less annoying and more… what? Appealing? Interesting? _Useful_?

Naruto, who had lost his nerve and had delusions of being from the future, had spent a lot of their early time on Team Seven badgering him to train, trying to get him to bond with his teammates…

…who had offered to teach him jutsu that he shouldn't have known yet…

…who had decisively beaten him in a taijutsu sparring match when he'd never shown himself to be anywhere near capable of doing something like that…

…who had spent a long time training Hyuuga Hinata when she should have been better than him…

…who had mopped the floor with the competition during the Chuunin Exam…

…who had used no less than _three_ different types of elemental jutsu in Sasuke's presence, something many jounin weren't even capable of…

_'It's stupid,'_ Sasuke grumbled as he leapt onto a rooftop and continued moving towards the Hokage Tower, where he'd been told to report if and when a battle started in the village. _'Now _I'm_ the one who's becoming delusional. Naruto being from the future is about as likely as…_'

…about as likely as Itachi telling Orochimaru how to gain the Mangekyo Sharingan and Orochimaru passing it on to Naruto.

Sasuke sped up. The sooner he finished his mission and Konoha kicked the invaders out, the sooner he could corner Naruto and demand to hear the story again and again and again until it started making sense.

In his mind, it was really going to be that easy, but the reality of the situation was quite different. Sasuke barely made it a hundred meters before he started seeing enemy ninja moving through the village. Some were fighting Konoha's forces, while others hurried towards whatever objectives their commanders had given them.

Sasuke scowled. How annoying of them to get in his way when he had his own mission that he wanted to accomplish. Technically, now that the battle had begun, he had an actual assigned mission to get to as well, but in his mind the Hokage would be fine without him until after he'd found Naruto. Certainly Danzo had enough ANBU around him to keep him alive for a few extra minutes and that was all he expected it to take for him to find Naruto.

The sucking sound of a foot moving through the mud just behind him woke him from his thoughts. Sasuke's eyes were red before his head had even completely turned towards the person sneaking up behind him. The young woman's eyes widened, her pupils dilating as he forced an image into her mind.

Sasuke's sword slowly slid out of its sheath, flashed through the air in the blink of an eye, and then slowly slid back into its resting place as the woman's Cloud hitai-ate dropped into the mud while she fell backwards in a shower of blood.

He barely made it five more steps before another enemy came at him, this one quicker than the last. Quick, but still easily read by the Sharingan. Sasuke's kunai was in the spot where the man's head would end up almost a full second before the head moved into place so it could be impaled.

As he continued to make his way towards Naruto's apartment, it quickly became obvious that it was a wasted effort. Naruto wasn't deaf, he wouldn't miss the battle raging outside and Sasuke could see that he wouldn't make it to the apartment before it had to be assumed that – even with his most unflattering estimates of Naruto's cowardice – the blond had probably joined the battle.

He would just have to go to Danzo, the way he'd been instructed to, and demand answers form Naruto later.

A part of him wondered if Naruto would actually survive that long, given his current mental and physical state, but Sasuke dismissed those thoughts instantly. Naruto might be a dumbass who had become a coward during the last two years, but he wouldn't die. He was still Naruto after all, even if he had mentally broken down during his two years of imprisonment and torture. He might be weak and an idiot, but certainly he would be fine.

He had to be.

Sasuke ducked under a sword slash by a Cloud-nin, drawing his own sword and nearly cutting the man in half without even slowing down.

"You better not die, dumbass!" he growled as he made his way towards the Tower.

ooo

Kakashi groaned as his one eye slowly opened. His head felt like it had been slammed in a door… a heavy one… probably made of lead.

He moved his aching head ever so slightly, just to make sure that the movement itself wouldn't damage him further and then sat up. The sound of clinking metal accompanied the movement and alerted him to the fact that his hands were bound behind him. His eye instantly widened and the fog of pain that had surrounded his brain vanished as if it was never there.

Something was wrapped around his head. He couldn't see it, of course, and with his hands bound he also couldn't reach up and feel it, but it was definitely there. With nothing but the sensation of its presence to go on, he could only guess at what it might be, but it felt like a bandage of some sort that was pressing against the side of his head where the majority of the pain was originating from.

Moving on from that, he began to take stock of his surroundings. He was still in what ANBU called "The Dungeon," where many of the dangerous criminals were kept while they were going through interrogation or were waiting to be executed. However, he was no longer outside the cell, but inside one. His hands were chained behind him in a way that kept the backs of his hands up against each other so he couldn't form any seals or even manipulate a tool to pick a lock. Outside of his cell, he could see a man lying face down in a small pool of blood, stripped almost completely naked. Though it was difficult to tell from the distance, there didn't seem to have been much of a struggle before the man was killed.

Kakashi's eye shifted towards the man's shoulder. He sighed and shook his head. The ANBU tattoo was clearly visible.

He looked around briefly, just to confirm what he already knew.

Rin was gone.

It was hard to remember what had happened immediately before he lost consciousness, but it didn't seem likely that Rin had escaped, knocked him out, and then killed the ANBU. She was good, really good, but she couldn't have pulled that off. Not in her condition and not while she was being constantly watched. Her "interrogation" wasn't nearly so bad as what some went through – thanks in part to a favor being called in with Ibiki after it became obvious that she didn't know anything of use – but it was bad enough to keep her too weak to break down the cell door and get the drop on an ANBU who would have been facing her anyway.

Kakashi closed his eyes and tried to push through the fog that surrounded those key moments. Had he unintentionally passed in front of the ANBU and given Rin a chance to somehow escape during that brief instant? Had she done something that would force the ANBU to release her?

He frowned and opened his eyes, scooting as close as he could to the bars and looking down at the corpse. Kakashi didn't know his name, but he recognized the face. He _was_ ANBU, but that didn't change the fact Kakashi could dimly recall him moving strangely just before the blank space in his memory occurred.

Whatever had happened, this man – or at least his body – was the key.

Unfortunately, Kakashi noted, the key didn't happen to have any _actual_ keys on him, which would make escaping from this situation somewhat problematic.

In the distance, he heard a rumbling that definitely did not sound like thunder.

Kakashi rolled and slipped his legs through his bound arms so that his hands were now in front of him. He definitely would not be able to form any seals like that, but there were jutsu that didn't require seals.

Chakra began to swirl in his palm.

"This isn't going to feel nice," he muttered under his breath as he prepared for what was to come.

ooo

Sakura didn't even think about turning and running after Sasuke when she heard the first explosion. It wasn't until the fourth or fifth that such thoughts started going through her head, but by then it was far too late. Besides, he'd been in enough battles by now that she knew he'd be fine.

No, that wasn't true. She'd seen too many people come home in body bags – or not at all – to know that even someone as powerful as Sasuke could be killed. Though not nearly as strong as Sasuke, one of her teachers while she was in the Academy, Suzume, had been killed in a battle by a genin despite being considered a very skilled chuunin. A lucky throw of a kunai, an unfortunate slip at a bad time, it didn't take much to kill a human and Sasuke, Suzume, and everyone else in this battle were most definitely human.

No, she didn't know that Sasuke would be fine, but she trusted him to keep himself alive.

He had to live and she had to trust him to do so. She'd given him far too much of her heart for her to seriously consider what would happen if he died. It was simply unthinkable at this point.

Pushing Sasuke as far from her mind as possible, she hurried into the hospital and up the stairs, taking them two at a time as she headed towards her small office which would have her med kit. No matter what happened, people were going to be hurt and killed during this battle, and she had to be ready to keep as many of them out of the latter group as possible.

As she rounded the corner, she came to a screeching halt.

Hospitals, by necessity, dealt with blood on a very regular basis…

But it wasn't supposed to be in the hallway…

The very empty and quiet hallway.

Sakura's hand dropped to her kunai holster as she looked around. "Hello?"

She walked down the hall and glanced into one of the rooms, a young doctor was sitting in a chair next to a patient's bed. Both had had their throats slit.

Sakura cursed under her breath as her fingers drew a kunai and then curled around its handle. As she stepped out of the room, her eyes caught a hint of movement to her left. She spun on her heel, already bringing her weapon up, but stopped when she saw who it was.

"Fuki-chan!" she exclaimed hurrying forward to the young woman who was still mostly wrapped in bandages, most of which were soaked in blood, as was the once-white robe she wore. Fuki was tightly gripping her side, blood covering her hands as well, as she limped forward.

"Sa… kura," she whispered, and then dropped to her knees, too weak to move anymore.

Sakura was at her side instantly. "What happened here," she asked as her hands began to check the extent of the injuries on her childhood antagonist. Most seemed to be the injuries that she'd already been treated for, but there were a few new ones.

Sakura was just starting to check the red stains up by Fuki's neck when her eyes registered what the young woman was wearing. She wasn't in civilian clothes or even a patient's gown; she was wearing the robes of a medic-nin.

"Sa… kura," Fuki whispered again, as Sakura's eyes darted towards the left breast of the robe where she spotted a nametag that filled her with fear. "Run."

ooo

Naruto spun away from Yugito's initial strike, then threw himself backwards as her foot shot out and nearly caught him under the chin. He landed in the mud and slid across the ground for nearly a meter before he was able to push off and get back to his feet. Yugito was already right there. The kunai in her hand slashed across his chest, fiery pain trailing just behind it as blood splashed in the mud.

Naruto skipped back, his hand pressed against the wound, trying to judge just how badly he'd been hit. The cut hurt, but it wasn't deep. Still, the fact that she'd even managed to hit him so early in the fight was a little disconcerting.

Yugito's fingers flashed through a series of seals and she leaned back, preparing to send a great burst of fire in his direction.

Naruto was extremely thankful for the rain as his own fingers formed seals.

The fire jutsu came out first, but it had to cross the distance between Yugito and Naruto while the water only had to rise about a meter and a half off the ground to do its job. It wasn't powerful – Naruto had never been really great at water jutsu – but the jutsu was close enough to equal with her fire jutsu that the elemental advantage remained his. The wall of water was reduced to little more than steam, but no heat reached him.

What did reach him, however, was her hand as it shot through the cloud of steam and caught him by the collar of his shirt, dragging him forward as her kunai shot towards his chest. Naruto was off balanced, but he managed to get his hands up. Her kunai cut through the middle of his right forearm, and he cried out in pain as she started to twist it in an effort to break the bones in his arm. He grabbed hold of her with his free hand and used his grip to push himself into the air and get his feet up so he could kick her in the chest. She lost her grip on the kunai as she was flung away from him and he ended up back on the ground, once again adding some blood to the mixture.

Naruto slowly pushed himself up, mud dripping from his hair and face, and pulled the kunai out of his arm. With a flick of his wrist, he sent most of the blood still on it down towards the ground and then curled his fingers tightly around the handle.

He gingerly flexed the hand on the arm that had been stabbed and was relieved to find that he could still move it. It hurt like crazy, but the fact that it worked at all was something of a miracle.

_'I'm not ready for someone like her,'_ he sighed to himself. _'She's too powerful and a week ago I was rotting in Orochimaru's dungeon. Even if he hates me and just wants to get Jiraiya and Tsunade to help in this war, this is a stupid plan.'_

But Naruto knew that Danzo was not stupid, just sneaky. The moment anyone thought he was being stupid was the moment he had them right in the palm of his hand. So whatever his plan was, it had nothing to do with Naruto fighting and losing against Yugito.

So, what was the real plan?

Before Naruto could even begin to try to unravel that question, Yugito was attacking again. Her leg swept up near his head and then quickly came back around and almost took his feet out from under him. He ducked and then leapt into the air, slashing at her with the kunai to keep her from taking advantage of him being off the ground.

She blocked his attack with her own kunai and then stepped in closer, her free hand swinging at him with an open-hand strike. Naruto pushed harder against her kunai with his own, moving his body slightly farther away from her as he curled in his stomach to avoid the attack.

It seemed like he should have gotten enough space, but for some reason, fire still erupted along his abdomen as he felt blood rushing out of his body.

He landed hard and looked down at his stomach. This one was worse than the first. Five ugly red grooves were cut deep into his skin, four of them about the same length, but the fifth started about three centimeters after the others. They looked for all the world like scratches from someone's fingernails.

He looked at her hand and frowned. Her fingernails weren't abnormally long; in fact, they were probably no longer than his own, but the blood dripping off of them seemed to say otherwise.

This was definitely a fight that he needed to end quickly.

Again she charged, but this time he went on the offensive, throwing a punch at her face – which was dodged – and then spinning into a kick at her midsection.

She hopped away from him, sliding through the mud, and prepared to charge once more, but before she could, his hand made a sharp chopping motion.

Naruto hoped that he wouldn't kill her – so long as she didn't move, he was fairly certain that the damage wouldn't be fatal – but he couldn't afford to keep fighting her. Already his lungs were on fire and the wounds on his chest and stomach ached painfully. Under normal circumstances, they would have been only a little more than minor irritants, but he wasn't anywhere near ready to fight someone like her from a physical standpoint.

Yugito's eyes widened fractionally and then she twisted to the side. The blade of wind chakra cut through her wet blond ponytail that was tied tightly with a strip of cloth, but that was all that he'd managed to hit.

Naruto felt his heart sink a little. On a clear day, she might not have seen it coming in time – certainly she would have been hard-pressed to spot it before it was too late to dodge – but the downpour of rain would give away the location of his wind attacks from the moment he created them.

Yugito reached back, felt the shortened end of her hair, and frowned.

"I spent a long time growing my hair out," she informed him, "I don't appreciate the haircut."

Naruto tried to grin, but it was a losing effort, much like the fight so far. "If you'd have held still, I wouldn't have touched your hair."

She regarded him for a moment and then said, "This isn't a fight you can win."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Please tell me you aren't going to ask me to surrender."

She shrugged. "Of course not. My orders aren't to capture you," she sent a kunai flying at his face, "I came to kill you."

Naruto twisted to the left and arched his back to avoid it, but even as the projectile passed by, Yugito was in front of him. Her foot shot out, kicking his feet out from under him so that his arching back now caused him to fall. Her right hand chopped down on his injured stomach, slamming him into the muddy ground.

Naruto gasped as the air was driven from his lungs, but didn't hesitate as he rolled away a second before her foot crashed down where his head had been. She didn't let her miss distract her, however, and kept coming after him, forcing him to continue to roll.

Even disoriented as he was by the fighting, rolling, and lack of air in his lungs, Naruto knew that there were stone steps not too far away from him. If he kept rolling until he hit them, he would be slowed and she would probably crush his skull under her foot. Rather than let that happen, he rolled once more, lifted his knees and kicked hard against the ground so that he slid forward.

It would have been great if he could have slid completely away before she managed to hit him, but Yugito wasn't nearly slow enough for something like that. Her foot came down on the back of his leg and probably would have either broken bone or torn some ligaments were it not for the soft ground. Sinking into the mud kept him from being seriously injured, but it also stopped his forward movement, leaving him open to further attacks.

Naruto twisted slightly so he could look over his shoulders and found Yugito's fingers racing through a series of seals. His own hands, still extended out as part of his slide, began to form seals as well. Yugito lifted her hands over her head as flames danced up her arms towards her palms while Naruto twisted almost completely around so he was looking up at her and let his arms spread wide, his hands turned down, digging into the mud.

Just as she brought her hands down and fired some sort of fire jutsu at him, Naruto jerked his arms in front of him, dragging two large sheets of earth with them that formed a sort of tent over his body. The fire jutsu slammed into it, the heat from the blast baking the mud, but not passing through it.

Naruto offered up a small prayer of thanks to the Neji from the future who had spent so many hours helping him work on earth jutsu and then pulled his trapped leg out of the mud.

He grabbed the top of his earth shield, doing his best to ignore the way the still-hot mud burned his skin, and pushed himself out from under it, quickly rolling to his feet.

Yugito did not look pleased. If anything, she seemed to be extremely frustrated with the fact that she couldn't seem to kill him despite clearly dominating the fight from the beginning. It would have been nice if her frustration would cause her to yell at him, or do some other time-wasting action that would allow him to catch his breath and figure out what the hell he should do to finish things, but such was not the case.

With what sounded like a cross between a screech and a growl, Yugito charged forward.

The two jinchuuriki seemed to move about the area around the Hokage Tower in a delicate and deadly dance. Hands and feet meeting, then parting, then meeting again as they attacked and defended. Naruto landed two punches during the dance. Yugito landed about twenty. As they stepped back while Naruto caught his breath and she reassessed her strategy, Naruto scowled. He was better than this! Even as out of shape as he was after two years in Orochimaru's dungeon, he was better than this.

Yugito was strong, but he had been Konoha's Hokage.

Temporary-Hokage, anyway…

The Temporary-Hokage who'd gotten his friends killed.

The Temporary-Hokage who presided over the death of the village.

The Temporary-Hokage who was messing up this timeline even more than he'd messed up the original one.

Naruto attacked, but his movements felt sluggish. In his mind, he kept seeing his defeat and Konoha's destruction hanging over him. He tried to push such distracting thoughts from him mind, but they'd had two years to take root and didn't depart easily.

_"You're nothing."_

_"You haven't grown at all."_

_"You're weak."_

_"You can't win."_

_"You are going to fail."_

_"You're a loser."_

_"You can't save anyone."_

_"You always fail."_

For two years those words had been pounded into his head. For twenty-four months he'd denied them. For over one hundred weeks he'd pretended that those words couldn't affect him. For more than seven hundred and thirty days he'd lied to himself. He thought that he hadn't broken. He thought that he'd won because Orochimaru hadn't gotten the information he wanted.

But the truth was, he _had_ broken. He hadn't given up the big secret, but he'd allowed those words to take root in his mind. He'd accepted Orochimaru's argument. He'd accepted Orochimaru's version of the truth.

He was nothing. He hadn't grown at all. He was weak. He couldn't win. He was going to fail. He was a loser. He always failed.

Yugito's hand batted away a weak attempt at a block, leaving him open.

Time seemed to slow down as Naruto saw the victorious smile on her lips as her eyes lit up at the opportunity before her. He knew he had to close up his defenses. He had to block the next attack or the fight would be over. He knew he had to get on the offensive or she would just keep battering away at him until he couldn't defend himself anymore.

He also knew that none of those things was going to happen, because in his heart he was certain that Orochimaru was right about him.

Yugito's kunai stabbed into his chest. Naruto gasped in pain and shock as blood sprayed from his mouth. He stumbled back, but Yugito didn't let him get away from her. She stepped forward and drove her knee up into his stomach, doubling him over as she spun on her heel and drove her foot into his downturned face.

Naruto flipped in the air, landed face-down in the mud with a splash, and didn't move.

ooo

The Kyuubi's enormous mouth smiled almost gleefully as its hungry eyes stared down at Naruto. "Back so soon?"

Naruto closed his eyes and lowered his head.

"You need power, right?"

Again, Naruto didn't speak. There didn't seem to be anything to say.

The Kyuubi's gloating chuckle rumbled through the tunnel, shaking the walls and causing the water to tremble. "I'll give it to you, of course, gladly even. All you have to do is say the word."

"I need your power," Naruto whispered.

"No," the giant fox said with a shake of its great head. "I want you to _beg_ for it. If you just ask and I give, you'll think things have remained the same, that you can use me when you need me and then ignore me the rest of the time. I want to hear you say it; I want you to tell me that you need _me_. I want you to beg me for the power to save your friends and village." He paused and his huge lips pulled back into an evil grin. "I want you to tell me who owns your heart."

Naruto's foot started to rise, ready to step towards the cage and beg for what he needed to win, but for some reason his toes refused to lift from the ground. He knew what taking this step meant; he'd been tempted by that road before, taken a few steps down it even. He knew what the Kyuubi would give him and what it would take from him. This time, he wouldn't be allowed to only take a few steps, he'd have to go all the way. He was too weak and too mentally tired to resist the way he had so many times in the past. Once he took this step, there would never be another path for him to travel. He knew that the power would flow into his veins and he'd never be able to get it to leave; more importantly, he'd probably never _want_ it to leave.

The fox would own him this time.

Because he was weak… because he always lost… because he couldn't protect his precious people without the Kyuubi's help.

"Worthless," he whispered to himself. "So worthless." He lifted his hand, ready to take the step, ready to beg for the power…

He'd said that he would protect his friends. That he would get stronger and keep them safe while letting go of all of his stupid plans and machinations and actually let himself really be their friend. Was he really so pathetic that he couldn't even go more than just a few minutes without having his worthlessness proven to him? Had Orochimaru so totally beaten him that he couldn't even stand against someone like Yugito without being forced to fall back on the monster within?

More than that, could he really save his friends… could he even _have_ friends when he was forced to give his heart to this dark power residing within him? Sasuke, Sakura, Hinata, Kakashi, Shikamaru, all of them, could he be their friend if he couldn't give them parts of his heart?

Did he really want their friendship or were they just pieces on a shogi board for him to manipulate as he pleased? When Jiraiya had said that they weren't really his friends, had it annoyed him because he disliked hearing the truth or because he disliked the truth itself?

If he took this step and begged for this power, his chances of ever having any of them as friends would be gone.

"I… I don't want it," he whispered, shocking even himself with the realization.

The Kyuubi was silent for a moment and then shook its great head. "You know what's going to happen if I don't help you, don't you? You'll die."

Naruto looked up, feeling a strange weight lifting from his chest. "I said I don't want it."

"It doesn't matter if you want it or not, you _need_ it. You need me."

"No," Naruto replied, his voice slowly gaining strength. "No, you're wrong."

"Am I? Look at you. Pathetic. It's unsightly for my host to be so weak. I'll fix it for you. I'll fix all of your problems."

"No."

"You want to die?"

"I don't care if I die or not, I won't give you a foothold in my life a second time. My heart doesn't belong to you."

"Your opponent isn't just some ninja. She's a jinchuuriki as well. She'll destroy you without my help and then she'll wipe this pathetic village off the face of the map. That's the power of the bijuu."

Naruto's hands closed into fists as a fresh wave of determination, of confidence, swept through him. "No, she won't."

"Are you going to convince her to stop? Are you going to _help_ her see the light the way you did that idiot Gaara?"

The blond smiled, he couldn't help it. For some reason, everything seemed like it was going to be… fine. "I don't know."

"You don't know because you don't have a plan," Kyuubi growled, "because you are weak and foolish. You care about everyone, but you won't do what's necessary to save them. I'm offering you the power you need and you're saying '_no_' like an impudent child. Did you live a whole lifetime and learn nothing? Power is the only thing that can save you. _My_ power. Give yourself to me and we'll win this war and protect everyone precious to you. None of them have to die, none of them have to suffer; we can fix this timeline… all you need to do is ask for my help."

"I don't want your help," Naruto replied, chuckling now. "I'm stronger without you."

The Kyuubi rolled its enormous eyes. "Yes, you've proven _that_ time and again."

Naruto shook his head. "My heart doesn't belong to you."

A claw slammed into the cage, rattling the bars. "Your heart has belonged to me from the moment Sasuke left the village!" the fox roared. "After that, all you felt was one painful moment after another. You couldn't save Sasuke, you couldn't save Gaara, or Jiraiya, or Tsunade, or Sakura, or Fukasaku, or any of the others. You never had the power to help any of them because you never accepted that we were joined and that you needed me constantly. It's time to grow up. Power is at your fingertips, take it and let's kill your enemies."

The rush from the swell of confidence had mostly passed now, leaving behind the firm determination that had produced it in the first place. "No."

"You are a fool."

Naruto nodded. "I _am_ a fool. I'm a fool who believes that his friends will be strong enough to help him. I'm a fool that knows he's going to win this fight without you. I'm a fool who's going to be Hokage of this village and save the world from whatever Orochimaru is planning. I might be a fool for not taking your power, but I'm also not _stupid_ enough to take something I don't need when I already know how terrible the price is."

With a casual wave, he started to leave, ignoring the frustrated roar that erupted as soon as he turned his back. After only a few steps, however, he paused and looked over his shoulder. "The next time you see me, I _will_ be coming for your power, but I _won't_ be asking. You were wrong when you said my heart belongs to you. The truth is, _your_ heart belongs to _me_! You'll never see me begging for your help again. The next time I'm here, will be when I'm ready to slap you in the face and tell you to sit down and shut up."

The tunnel shook with outraged laughter. "Even an idiot like you can't possibly think that you'll ever have that sort of power. Have you forgotten who I am?"

Naruto smiled. "No, but I've remembered who _I_ am. I am the Sixth Hokage, and I don't go back on my word."

o

o

A/N: Well, it's been a while since I wrote a lot of fighting, hopefully I haven't lost my touch any. I tried to have at least a few "character scenes" in there as well, though lately those have been the scenes that come off as the most depressing.

Speaking of that, any of you who thought throughout the chapter that it was pretty depressing watching Naruto get his butt kicked, hopefully the last scene with the Kyuubi was a decent payoff for all the depressing stuff I've put you through. Honestly, you have to thank TimeShifter for its inclusion in the chapter. I wanted to start the next one with it and end this one with Naruto face down in the mud! Hmm, maybe I really do get some sort of weird kick out of torturing poor Naruto. Actually, I just wanted this chapter to be the death of the depressed unconfident Naruto so that the next one would start with his rebirth as… well, as the Naruto who is more like his old self. Oh well, I think it still works well like this and it definite is a much happier ending. Plus, if I'd kept the original ending, that would have been four cliffhangers with main characters in peril and that's kind of a bit much.

Speaking of being a bit much, sorry about the wait for this chapter. The next one should be better. Between going to DC (really great - if slightly infuriating due to most of the politics of the last... 100 years or so - trip), recovering from going to DC (I could barely walk my feet hurt so much), getting sick, and then the Fourth of July, time just seemed to slip past me. Add the fact that this chapter was pretty tough to write and I fear it was inevitable that the chapter would be late, I just didn't think that it would be _this_ late!

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Review and let me know what you thought.


	12. Battle of the Jinchuriki

A/N: Surprise! I'm not actually dead! Brain dead maybe, but still capable of writing. The chapter is a little shorter than usual (if 9K words counts as short), but there's a lot of action and a little bit of plot… so hopefully that'll make some of you happy. Anyway, enjoy the chapter.

o

Chapter 11: Battle of the Jinchuriki

o

Konoha was full of a million things that it ought not be full of: terror, blood, screams, fire, and so much more. Everywhere one looked, death and destruction could be found. The Leaf-nin fought back bravely against the Cloud, but ninja battles like these rarely occurred without serious collateral damage. They had protocols for evacuating the citizens, but evacuating an entire village was no small task and the rain and chaos of the battle hampered their ability to move civilians. Even if they'd done everything perfectly, casualties would have been high… and things like this were never perfect.

The sky overhead was black as heavy clouds and smoke swirled together while the rain fell without stopping. It was as though the night was weeping as it watched the war from above.

Hinata had long since gotten used to what she thought was war. She'd seen it all before. She had fought and killed, she had protected and attacked, and she had even been a part of efforts that had destroyed buildings not unlike the ones being destroyed now. It was different, though, when it was your village being attacked, your people being killed, and your home being destroyed. Everything that she had gone through before seemed to pale in comparison to the battle that she was trying to move through now.

As she and Naruto's clone hurried towards the Hyuuga compound, it seemed they could barely take more than five steps without stumbling over the corpse of an enemy or ally. Even worse, there seemed to be nearly as many civilian corpses – including those of children – as there were ninja.

Hinata thought that, perhaps, she hadn't really known war until that point.

Naruto seemed to be even worse off than she was. He'd gone through something terrible, but he'd never seen the carnage of real war. He'd seemed to carry a heavy heart since returning from Orochimaru's prison, and that weight doubled every time they found came across a new body or found ninja engaged in pitched battles. Strangely, he never seemed terribly surprised at what they found, but his eyes held a guilt that was out of place considering the circumstances.

Whatever he was going through, it was affecting his abilities. He was definitely not the Naruto that she'd seen at the Chuunin Exam two years earlier. Gone was the speed, the sharpness, and the unbreakable confidence of that time. Instead he was hesitant and awkward. He never really needed her help, but he struggled with even the weakest of opponents. He moved as if he expected his every action to result in total failure. His punches were halfhearted, his evasion showed he was thinking too much, and his seal forming was sloppy.

He was Hinata from about two and a half years ago.

That Hinata had been blessed with having a friend who patiently worked with her and encouraged her, building her up until she could stand on her own… for the most part. Unfortunately, Hinata had no idea how to help Naruto. She wasn't even exactly sure what he had done to help her.

She did her best not to focus too much on things that she couldn't do anything about at the moment – especially since Naruto wasn't really with her anyway – and turned most of her attention back to hurrying towards the Hyuuga compound. The black smoke drifting into the rainy evening was more than enough to hold her attention. The two of them reached the gates without further incident and went over them without pause. What they found on the other side caused Hinata to completely forget about Naruto.

All she could see was the main house, _her_ house, engulfed in flames.

Without a thought, Hinata began running towards the burning building. She was dimly aware of the fact that the clone of Naruto was calling out to her and moving to try to stop her, but she was faster and he wasn't very determined.

There was a small crowd of Hyuuga around the building and a line of them passing buckets of water that were being drawn from a nearby well that was mostly just for decoration.

If ever there was a time where having a few Hyuuga who actually knew how to use elemental – particularly water – ninjutsu would have been helpful, it was now. Unfortunately, her own use of ninjutsu was still seen as something of a curiosity, a weird bucking of tradition that the clan heiress had chosen as a mild form of rebellion against the system that she predominately complied with.

Neji was the only one who found the potential changes to Juuken to be exciting and interesting, but since the war had started, they'd had few chances to work on it together. Even with only those few meetings, however, he'd progressed through the Juuken form Naruto had taught her at a pace that didn't seem human, even finding a few areas where her improvements on Naruto's moments of improvisation could be refined.

Hinata wished that Neji was there, but was certain that he and his team had been assigned to either a scouting mission or to guarding one of the walls around the village. Neji was a leader. People looked up to him with the respect that genius always earned. Because of the house he was born into, he couldn't lead the clan, but people still listened to him when he spoke. Were he here now, there wouldn't be a crowd staring at a burning building wondering what to do.

The Hyuuga were a clan with a strict hierarchy, a hierarchy that had been protected for generations. There was always a leader, someone telling everyone else what to do.

The crowd that Hinata was pushing past had no leader. They weren't sure what was happening. There were explosions and sounds of battle outside their walls and the fire before them burned as though it couldn't feel the rain or water being poured on it. To make matters worse, all of those who had reached chuunin or jounin level had obviously been called away to other assignments. Those who were left were mostly women and children and they were confused and scared. She heard one of them yell, "Hinata-sama!" as they realized who she was, but then she was past them and they no longer mattered to her.

Chakra surged into her eyes and she peered into the flames that were devouring her home. It only took a second to spot her father, sister, and several other members of the Hyuuga leadership spread throughout the house. Most were getting close to various exits, but her father and sister were still near the center of the house. They'd probably been having another meeting when the fire broke out, which explained why there wasn't even a clan elder to give orders to those outside.

Hinata's fingers flashed through a series of seals and a spout of water shot from the ground near her foot and crashed into the door, shattering it but doing little to put out the flames that continued to dance up the walls. She didn't even pause as she dove into the smoke-filled interior, Naruto's clone right behind her.

ooo

Yugito stood over the fallen Naruto for a moment, staring down at his unmoving body and then turned towards the Hokage Tower, looking up at it as though expecting to see the Hokage watching everything from above. Her face set in determination, she started to walk towards the building, but before she got more than a few steps, she heard the sucking sound of something being pulled from the mud behind her.

She paused and glanced over her shoulder, her eyes narrowed.

Naruto slowly pushed up from the muck and lifted his face towards her. He was covered in mud; it was in his hair, all over his face, and caked onto his clothes as well.

"Don't… don't run away," he whispered as he spit mud from his mouth. He got himself up to the point where he was almost in a sitting position and then stood, brown sludge dripping off him as he rose. "I'll go easier on you next time, I promise. Just… play a little longer."

His voice was that of the exhausted, gravely injured teen that he was, but there was a fire in his eyes that Yugito hadn't seen in their fight until that point.

"You aren't dead yet?" she asked in a bored voice. "My apologies. I didn't give you enough credit. I thought for sure that was all you had, especially after you laid there in the mud looking dead for so long, but I guess a jinchuriki wouldn't go down without showing the power of his bijuu."

"You won't see… a-any of the Kyuubi," Naruto replied with a pain-filled grunt. "Even if… you k-kill me, it won't be… be coming out."

Yugito almost laughed at him. "You think you can stand against me without it?"

Naruto turned his head to the side until his neck popped and then winced as he pulled the kunai from his chest and then pressed his hand against the wound. A steady stream of blood ran between his dirty fingers, mixing with the mud before dripping off his hand.

"It doesn't matter," he whispered. "I won't let that damn fox have a… a foothold in my life. I don't… don't have the willpower to hold it back at the moment, so I can't risk even borrowing a little of its powers… and really, I d-doubt I'll need it anyway."

"A 'foothold in your life?'" Yugito asked, raising an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you can't control it." When Naruto didn't answer she shook her head and said, "I see. I assumed that all jinchuriki could do what Kirabi-sama and I have been trained to do, but perhaps we are the exceptions rather than the rule."

"What are you talking about?"

"As you said, it doesn't matter." Yugito drew another kunai, spun it around her finger, and then caught the handle as she lifted it in front of her. "If you can't use your bijuu, you're just another ninja. The next time I drop you in the mud, you won't get back up unless I command you to."

He flashed her a feral grin that seemed completely inappropriate considering the state of his body. "Bring it on."

Yugito pushed chakra into her legs and sprang forward, intent on ending it in a single shot. Naruto was clearly exhausted, he was injured, and he hadn't been breathing for several seconds only a moment earlier. There was no way he would have the energy to keep up with her at full speed. She watched as he started to lift his arm to swing at her, a slow and clumsy movement that was clearly hampered by his injuries, and then planted her foot just beyond his reach, and shot to the side. In the blink of an eye, she'd changed directions twice more so she was now coming at him from behind while he was still swinging towards the spot she'd long since vacated.

It was almost sad that he'd worked so hard to get back on his feet only to be killed a second later by an enemy that was superior to him in everyway.

Naruto's foot shot up as he bent over at the waist, catching her under the chin and lifting her into the air.

As she crashed back down into the mud, so surprised by the attack that she'd been unable to recover and protect herself from the fall, he turned and smiled at her.

"Is that… all the speed you have?" he asked, through clenched teeth as he pressed a hand to his chest once more. "If it is, then you're a-a hundred years too early to beat me!"

Yugito pushed herself back to her feet and charged at him again, a kunai clenched in her fist. He stepped back, dodging the first swipe of the blade and then twisted to the side as the second passed harmlessly by him. Yugito didn't bother with a third; instead, she threw the kunai at him from point blank range, but he read the move and flopped onto his back, rolling backwards through the mud and then up onto his feet.

As he was still rising, Yugito's hand went to her back where a ninjato was strapped between her shoulder blades. By the time he was as close to full height as he was going to get, her sword was already coming down towards his head. Naruto's hands shot up and caught her by the wrist. He'd read her perfectly, but lacked the strength to block her strike fully. He managed to avoid being hit by the sword, but the force of the blow forced him to his knees.

Yugito's foot lashed out, catching him in the face and sending him tumbling away from her.

Curiosity raged within Yugito. She'd spent almost her whole life in training to be Kumogakure's weapon, it seemed impossible that a mere boy – an injured boy at that – could be this close to her equal, even if he was a jinchuriki. She was, however, well aware of the old adage about curiosity and cats and had no desire to endanger her mission to satisfy something that was ultimately pointless. She rotated the grip on her sword and started moving in for the kill. It would be far less tempting to question him once he was dead.

Naruto pushed off the ground in mid-roll and landed on his feet, before falling to his knees. He started to move as if to put his hand over the bleeding wound on his chest, but stopped the motion before it was completed and instead began forming seals. Yugito was only a meter away from him when he reached down and grabbed hold of the ground and made as if to throw a clump of mud at her.

Only, it wasn't just a small clump of dirt that flew through the air, but the beginning of a long wall of earth.

Yugito tried to dodge, but was a hair too slow. The earth slammed into her body and threw her back. Naruto used the space to indulge in clutching his chest for a second.

"Sakura-chan's going to be so pissed at me," he grumbled as he brought his hands together once more, forming a quick series of seals. His right hand glowed bright green for a second and then he pressed it against his chest and clenched his teeth together. The sound and smell of searing flesh drifted up from his chest and when he finally pulled his hand back, there was a very large, very red, handprint-shaped cluster of blisters on his chest. It somehow looked even worse than the muddy stab wound that had been there before.

"Still can't do it right," he sighed as he stood once more.

ooo

_"Why? Why is it… why is it you?"_

Gaara reeled away from the sound of his own voice when he was a child, his eyes wide in horror at the words and the memory they were attached to. All around him was darkness, but the sounds echoed and reverberated off the unseen walls of his prison.

_"It was… an order. I was ordered to assassinate you."_

He still remembered the chill of the desert wind that night, the smell of the sand and blood that it carried. And he remembered his only real companion in life, the closest thing he had to a true father, the only person he'd ever loved in his short life… bleeding from internal injuries that that Gaara himself had inflicted after that man, his uncle, had tried to kill him.

_"I could have declined it if I'd wanted to…"_

Gaara covered his ears and tried to block out the words, but they didn't seem to need his ears open to be heard.

_"You were never loved!"_

Gaara screamed in anguish at the memories.

"Please die…"

It took him a moment to realize that he hadn't heard those final words; he'd spoken them himself.

It was absolutely his most painful memory.

"Wow, that's just messed up," Han's voice said with a chuckle. "Personally, I would have killed every last one of those bastards and then used their hollowed out skulls for toilets."

"Don't be crude," a slightly high-pitched voice chided him. "It's really impressive that he stayed sane after something like that."

Gaara turned towards them and his right hand shot forward to send sand to crush both.

Nothing happened.

"Heh, a little shit like you's barely worth puttin' up with fish bait here. I can't believe you made me go this far."

"I have a name," the voice sighed. Just behind Han, Gaara could see two bright blue eyes surrounded by a pinkish rim staring at him. The rest of whatever-it-was remained hidden in the darkness.

"A lame one," Han shot back with a snarl. "And no one gives a shit, _Kelpie_."

"I've told you before, I'm not a fish."

"You aren't _anything_, that's the problem with you. If you were _something_, then you'd make a little sense every once in a while instead of being a freakin' contradiction of everything normal. Probably wouldn't have such weak-ass powers either."

"My 'weak-ass powers' just saved you," the voice replied.

"Whoopity-freakin'-doo, you goddamn hippocampus. You're only makin' me hate you more."

"_Still_ not a fish."

Gaara shook his head and tried again to summon sand to crush them. And again nothing happened.

"Doesn't work here," Han told him with a grin. "Fish-shit gave me the lame power to trap you in a genjutsu after you inhale the steam. It gets in your lungs, I get in your head, and you get dead easy to follow, right?"

"Genjutsu?" Gaara asked, frowning.

"Not as good as ninjutsu, and not even close to as good as taijutsu, but what can you do?" Han replied with a shrug. "If I'd had a choice, I would have rather have Roushi's monkey. It, at least, isn't such a goddamn pussy of a bijuu that makes me ashamed to even admit that I'm a jinchuriki."

"I'm going to stop letting you borrow my powers if you can't be more polite," the voice said with another sigh.

"Heh, try to stop me then."

Gaara gave up on the sand that was obviously not coming and ran at the two of them with all the speed he could muster. He brought his fist back and swung at Han, but his hand passed right through the giant man as he seemed to turn to vapor.

"I'm afraid that won't work either," the voice of the bijuu told him, though it sounded more proud than regretful. "For all his stupidity and overconfidence in physical attacks, Han really is quite skilled at using my genjutsu abilities. In this world, you are powerless. We can make you see anything, feel anything, and relive anything. If his twisted mind comes up with it, you'll experience it."

Han reformed in front of Gaara and drove his fist into Gaara's stomach. Gaara fell to his knees, gasping for air. Han reached down and grabbed him by the hair, dragging him back to his feet and then kicking him in the chest and sending him flying. He landed in a heap, barely able to breath and completely unable to stand.

Suddenly, the ground beneath him crumbled and then gave way. Down he went, tumbling end over end. The world of darkness vanished to reveal a deep pit that he was falling through. Then the pit disappeared and he was falling from thousands of feet up in the air, passing clouds and birds as he picked up more and more speed. As he neared the ground, a large mountain seemed to rise up towards him. Gaara watched in horrified fascination as the top of the mountain shifted until it was covered in hundreds of sharp spikes, and then the middle spike rose still higher and became thinner until it was the shape of a large sword.

The sword pierced his chest, cutting all the way through his body as he slid down its smooth surface. He should have been killed instantly by such a wound or at least passed out from the pain, but unfortunately neither happened. Even worse, the sword was so wide that, as he continued down it, it cut more and more of his body until finally he'd been split completely in half.

The pain made the wound he'd received when his father and village turned on him after the Chuunin Exam feel like a goodnight kiss from the mother he'd never known.

Even cut in half, he continued to live, continued to feel, and continued to fall all the way down until the sharp spikes that awaited him skewered his body.

Gaara screamed in pain and threw up all over the suddenly solid ground.

"Do you see why I hate using this?" Han asked him as he squatted next to him in the darkness. "Where's the challenge? Where's the excitement? Where's the fun in killing you? The damn seahorse takes it all away from me! How the hell am I supposed to enjoy your death when all I do is will something to happen and you fall down and cry? I'm a warrior, but I've got a pussy of a demon inside of me! It's not fair!"

Gaara could barely make out what was being said to him. His only response was to whimper in pain as his brain tried to reconcile the fact that it wasn't dead with the information every nerve in his body had been reporting until only a second ago.

ooo

Fuki's hand moved like lightning, far faster than someone with her level of injuries should have been capable of. A scalpel that had been hidden in her sleeve slipped into her hand and slashed at Sakura's throat. A tenth of a second faster and she would have cut the carotid artery on the right side of Sakura's throat, a wound that Sakura would probably have been unable to even think of healing before she passed out from the blood loss.

That one tenth was an important one.

Had she time to think about it, Sakura probably would have wanted at least one or two more tenths. Without them, the scalpel was still able to graze her throat and the bottom of her jaw, cutting all the way to the bone of her jaw before she was able to completely move out of the way.

Sakura's hand instantly went to her neck as she threw herself backwards away from Fuki, crashing to the ground with a thud.

Fuki rose from her kneeled position and began to stagger towards Sakura. "I'm sorry," she whispered over and over. "I'm so sorry."

Sakura started to scramble to her feet, trying to get some distance between herself and Fuki, but the other kunoichi was capable of moving far faster than seemed possible given her injuries. The scalpel flashed through the air again, this time cutting deep into Sakura's right leg.

Sakura kicked out with her left leg, catching Fuki in the stomach. She was knocked back a half-meter, but that was it. She didn't seem to have even felt the kick as she continued stalking towards Sakura after only a moment's pause.

Sakura knew she didn't have any choice at this point. Whatever was wrong with Fuki, there didn't seem to be anyway she could stop the young woman without resorting to more serious attacks.

Her blood covered hand came away from her neck and joined her other hand in flashing through a series of seals.

Fuki should have started seeing the images instantly. Sakura should have disappeared and an army of ghostly figures should have stepped out of a mist to attack the young woman. And it seemed that she _did_ see those images, her eyes widened, shifting back and forth wildly, but that didn't matter because her body continued forward without pause.

Using her left leg to push against the ground, Sakura did her best to slide away from Fuki. She wasn't armed and was beginning to feel the blood loss. More than that, she didn't want to have to start using deadly force against someone who didn't seem to be completely right in the head. Even if she _did_ want to, she wasn't on the ground floor, so she didn't have access to any earth that she could manipulate with the few elemental ninjutsu she knew and the injury to her leg was such that she didn't think she would be very effective with taijutsu.

The only thing she could really do, besides scoot along the floor until she ran into a wall or body, was hope that Fuki was dumb enough to get in her range and then swing as hard as she could.

Fuki wasn't that dumb. She stopped just before she was close enough for Sakura to even try to kick her and then lifted the scalpel.

"I'm sorry," she whispered again, tears rolling down her blood-smeared cheeks.

ooo

Danzo prided himself on never being caught off guard. In fact, it was practically his life mission. He was careful, he was secretive, and he didn't show off. Even as a ninja just starting out in the world, he'd always been careful to never reveal his full potential. He was the last of his team to advance to both chuunin and jounin. He never stood out on missions or in training. He almost never did anything that would call attention to himself unless he felt he could benefit from it.

This was why, except for high-ranking jounin and the village leadership, he was practically unknown even within his own village. In the other villages, he could probably walk through the streets without getting so much as a second glance. The only enemies who had ever seen what he could really do were all dead.

Danzo liked to be the one who did the surprising. He liked to know his enemy inside and out while remaining a complete mystery. He lived in the shadows, he worked in the shadows, and he killed in the shadows.

And so he was very angry with himself as he stared impassively down at Uzumaki Naruto while the young man fought Nii Yugito. Naruto was a surprise. Not just a surprise, he was a completely unexpected surprise.

Danzo had thought that the boy would access the Kyuubi's abilities and use them to win the fight. He had done it before and apparently was skilled enough that he could at least partially remain in control. The Third had made notes about it after a conversation with Kakashi following one of Team Seven's missions.

There had been no notes about Naruto being this sort of person. Even in the Chuunin Exam, he hadn't shown this level of talent and he'd been great beyond all reasonable explanation during the Finals of the Exam.

It was after the Exam, that Danzo had begun investigating Uzumaki Naruto. Even with the boy kidnapped or betraying the village, it was important to know how someone who was considered a failure and a relative nonentity – even if he was a jinchuriki – could have so thoroughly trounced all three of the Kazekage's children. Naruto had shown no great skill before graduating; in fact, he'd barely graduated at all. Danzo had been aware of the circumstances surrounding Naruto's graduation, but hadn't placed any particular importance on them. Mizuki was a pathetic ninja, beating him up was nothing to brag about.

It wasn't until Danzo began searching for Naruto's lineage that any interesting information came up. Though most of it was wrapped in lies and confidential information, it hadn't been too hard for him to piece it together.

Uzumaki Naruto was the Fourth Hokage's son.

That sort of talent was the kind that couldn't help but be passed on to a child. It explained enough that Danzo had stopped investigating. Naruto had either been handicapped by his instructors' dislike of him – a dislike that Kakashi would naturally not share – or had been hiding his abilities just as Danzo hid his own.

What was happening below, however, had nothing to do with hidden talent passed on from a father who was also a prodigy. If Naruto had truly been in captivity for the last two years, and all information seemed to indicate that he had been, then what he was doing was learned before that. Unfortunately, the simple truth of the matter was that it was impossible learn how to do what Naruto was doing in such a short period of time.

Danzo glanced out of the corner of his eye at the ANBU sitting cross-legged next to him. Though obviously well trained in hiding his emotions, the ANBU's back was a little straighter and he was leaning forward in obvious wonder at the battle below. He'd noticed it as well.

Uzumaki Naruto's ninjutsu was at the very least at jounin level, _elite_ jounin level. He'd used three elements – earth, water, and wind – and used them in the space of only a few seconds. He'd also, apparently, learned some medical ninjutsu as well. Even more impressive, he'd used wind without the using hand seals.

It simply was impossible for this boy to have that much ninjutsu knowledge at his age. It took most ninja years to even master one element to the point that they could use it without seals. To learn a second and a third, even if he had to use seals for them, was almost beyond prodigy level.

Beneath his calm face, Danzo frowned. He didn't like surprises and he didn't like Naruto. He'd hoped to have Naruto quietly removed at some point once the plan was a little farther along, but now it seemed that he would have to be far more cautious about it. Naruto kept his true skills quiet, but he let enough of them show that people would start expecting big things of him if they got many chances to see him in action. It would be difficult to remove him once those expectations reached a certain level.

ooo

Naruto watched as Yugito also got to her feet and then turned his head at the sound of an explosion in the distance. "You idiots are causing me a lot of problems," he told her as his hands came together. A shadow close appeared at his side and then immediately released itself. "Letting the hatred get out of hand like this, you're just perpetuating the cycle."

"What are you talking about?" Yugito growled as she glared at him, no longer curious about his new power. Curiosity had been completely replaced with anger. It was one thing to annoy her, it was quite another to make her look as bad as he was starting to make her look. "What was that clone for?"

Naruto gave her a cocky smile that looked extremely out of place on his mud and blood smeared face. "Just spreading some good thoughts."

Yugito threw her sword at him without warning, probably hoping the conversation would cause him to be caught flatfooted. Even before the sword reached him, she was moving forward, her fingers forming seals.

Naruto dove to the side to avoid the sword, but before he could get back to his feet, Yugito was above him. Fire danced up her arm as she lifted it over her head. Naruto didn't have time for anything as fancy as using a ninjutsu, but he did reach down and grab a handful of mud and throw it up in her face.

It wasn't a particularly honorable way of fighting, but at this point he didn't much care about that. After seeing him use several earth elemental ninjutsu, Yugito had to react as though he were about to do something impressive. She quickly saw the truth, but her hesitation was long enough that he was able to escape and get back to his feet.

Naruto was forming seals even as he rose. He drew his hand back as Yugito began to move towards him, and the rain falling around him seemed to change direction in midair, drawn towards his hand. Water from the ground and the air gravitated towards his hand, and then shot forward as he thrust his arm towards her. Yugito had spotted what he was doing, however, and was already in the midst of casting her own jutsu.

As near as Naruto could tell, Yugito only used fire jutsu and this time was no different. He'd actually decided on a water jutsu in hopes that she would just use more fire, since water beat fire.

Water beat fire, but only when they were on the same level.

Naruto didn't see what jutsu she used before she was engulfed in steam, but it must have been a big one. Whatever it was, it had definitely been stronger than the hastily thrown water jutsu he'd used. Her jutsu wasn't powerful enough to completely overcome his elemental advantage, but it was close enough that he was sure he hadn't done any damage with his jutsu either.

Yugito exploded out of the steam, her fist already cocked. Naruto's foot slipped smoothly across the mud as he sidestepped her first punch and then his arms came up in front of him as she delivered a kick that sent him sliding back. Before he had any time to recover, she was on him again. He dodged three more punches before he spotted his opening. A final punch came at him and he ducked under it, stepping closer to her so that their hips were almost touching. His right hand shot up and caught her under the chin while his foot kicked her feet out from under her. The combination left her in the air with his hand around her throat.

He put ever ounce of power his small frame had into slamming her into the mud.

The second she hit the ground, chakra was swirling in his left hand. His plan was to hit her in the face with the Rasengan before she had time to recover. Unfortunately, she was either very quick to recover or he was even weaker than he'd realized.

She caught him by the wrist just before his hand could reach its target. With him leaning so far over her, it was a simple matter for her to lift her knee, catch him in the stomach, and send him flying over her head.

Both ninja were quickly back on their feet. Each sensed that the fight was nearing its conclusion and that even the slightest misstep or slow down could lead to instant death

"I can't believe it's come to this," Yugito said with a shake of her head as she let out a slow breath. "I didn't think I'd have to go this far unless I met someone like the Copy Ninja or the Hokage himself. How annoying."

She flashed a feral smile at him and the atmosphere seemed to change instantly. The rain still fell, but the water already on the ground began to swirl around her and the falling rain started to alter its trajectory as if running into some invisible force that surrounded her body. The wrap around her recently-cut hair came undone and her blond hair stood on end as she crouched down until her hands were in the mud.

"Congratulations, Uzumaki Naruto," she yelled, her eyes going completely white, "you're going to die now!"

Blue chakra enveloped her like a raging fire and began to take the shape of an immense cat with yellow glowing eyes.

"Damn it," Naruto groaned as he stared up at the monster, "you might only be fifty years too early to beat me."

ooo

The smoke and heat choked Hinata and made it difficult for her to see, even with her Byakugan activated. Naruto seemed to be having less trouble with it, but that might have been because he was only a shadow clone.

She squeezed her eyes shut, took as deep a breath as she could handle without choking, and then opened her eyes and quickly searched once more for her father and sister. There were others inside the building as well, but not many. Most of them were near exits and seemed to be getting out on their own.

For someone of her father's level of training and ability, getting out should have been no problem, but for some reason he had not. He, Hanabi, a Branch family member that she didn't immediately recognize, and Hiroshi were all in the meeting room near the center of the house. Her father was on the ground, perhaps to get under the smoke, with Hanabi and Hiroshi near him while the Branch member was a little farther away and standing in spite of the smoke and ash in the air.

Hinata hurried towards them, Naruto following at her heels.

Fallen support beams and pieces of the burning roof blocked the doorway into the room, but a wall was no obstacle for two ninja. Hinata's eyes spotted weak points within the wall and she and Naruto easily broke through.

With the structural integrity of the building as a whole and the roof in particular so weak, the destruction of the wall nearly caused still more of the house to fall down on them. Naruto spotted the problem quickly, however, and pushed Hinata through the hole as he got his arms under the largest beam that was cracking.

"Hurry," he yelled as the flames on the wood drifted under his hands, "I won't last long like this."

Hinata nodded in understanding and turned towards the other occupants of the room. "This way!" she shouted.

"Get out of here, Hinata-sama!" Hiroshi yelled without looking at her.

It was at the moment, that Hinata realized there was something more amiss than just the fact that her home was burning to the ground all around them. Even with the stinging smoke in her eyes, she could see that Hanabi had tears in her eyes and Hiroshi had a kunai in his hand. Even more strange, her father, who was normally in command of every situation and giving orders when they needed to be given, was still on the ground, his hand over his chest and an odd look of disbelief and shock on his face.

Before her brain could put everything together, however, the wood beam Naruto was holding up creaked and the clone grunted in pain and frustration as he was almost driven to his knees by the added weight of more debris falling onto it. The noise drew Hinata's thoughts away from the scene in front of her and the thought that had nearly reached her slipped by.

"Hiroshi! Ko! Get over here!" Naruto yelled. "I can't hold it!"

Hinata started to move towards her father and sister, determined to get them moving no matter what it took. Even with Hyuuga Ko and Hiroshi helping, the roof wouldn't stay up much longer in that area of the house and they had to get going.

Hyuuga Ko instantly hurried towards Naruto. Hiroshi turned, a strange look in his eyes, and lifted his hand as if reaching out to grab Naruto.

Hinata barely heard the pop of the clone being dispelled, but the sound of debris crashing down over their exit was more than enough for her to realize what had happened.

They'd been betrayed.

ooo

Sasuke ducked under the thrust of the naginata, allowing the thin blade to pass so close to his shoulder that he could feel the whisper of it even through his damp shirt, and then it was all over. His sword slipped up through the Cloud-nin's stomach, into his chest and then pulled to the side and away as Sasuke spun on his heel, ending up behind his enemy. The man was probably still coming to the realization that he was dead while Sasuke was already flicking his wrist to shake some of the blood from the blade and turning his attention to more pressing matters.

The number one pressing matter of the moment was the fact that he was now facing two things he absolutely didn't want to see: Naruto fighting a halfway decent opponent and Yugito Nii fighting anyone he cared about.

The fact that Naruto and Yugito were fighting each other and that Yugito had turned into a monster made things even worse.

Had this been Danzo's plan all along?

It didn't make sense. It especially didn't make sense for Danzo to summon Sasuke to see this fight. Sasuke had always considered himself a loyal citizen of Konoha, but at that moment he was having some decidedly treasonous thoughts.

Danzo's death, however, would have to wait. Saving Naruto was what mattered at the moment. If he managed to somehow save his friend then perhaps he would consider allowing Danzo to keep a limb or two.

Just as he was about to leap down into the middle of the battle, he spotted a shift of chakra off to his right and suddenly a hand shot out of thin air and grabbed hold of him. Sasuke was a half-second from cutting the hand – and whomever it was attached to – in half, but stopped himself as he came face to face with Naruto… or a clone of Naruto anyway.

"Sorry," Naruto told him with a grin that had been absent from his face since he'd been rescued. "Didn't mean to scare you."

Sasuke bit back his retort, but not quickly enough for the clone not to see that it was coming, causing him to smile even bigger.

"You can't go down there."

Sasuke pulled away from the clone's grasp. "What are you talking about?"

"I've got it under control. If you go down there, you'll be in the way."

"_You've_ got it under control?!? You could barely bring yourself to look anyone in the eye just yesterday."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. "I was Hokage only a few years ago. You're just a little kid in my eyes. Stay. Back."

Sasuke held Naruto's gaze for a moment longer and then shook his head. "You're back to being your old dumb self," he shifted his eyes towards the fight and then shrugged. "Fine, I'll wait until you need me."

"You'll be waiting a lo—" In midsentence, Naruto's eyes widened as a look of unmasked horror fell across its face. In an instant, it had completely forgotten Sasuke and turned towards a different part of the village. "Oh no."

"What is it?"

Naruto spun back towards him and grabbed him by the shirt. "Where's Sakura-chan?!?"

"I don't know, I haven't seen her since the fighting started."

Sasuke could feel the clone's hands tremble as it released his shirt. "Shit!"

"What's wrong?"

Instead of answering, Naruto said, "Go find her, right now. Start at the hospital and then go to wherever you think she'd be if she wasn't there. Don't let your guard down around anyone, even if they're supposed to be on our side."

Sasuke wanted to grab Naruto and shake him, but the look on the blond's face was enough to worry him. "Why?"

"Orochimaru has a jutsu or something, it messes with people's minds. Kumo allied themselves with him and there are people on our side that are being controlled. If you meet up with anyone that you know was the only survivor of a mission or was captured for any length of time, they could be under the enemy's control."

Sasuke opened his mouth to point out the obvious, but decided against it.

"I know you don't believe me about all that future stuff," Naruto continued, "but as much as you betraying us hurt, Sakura-chan's death was worse. I'm trusting you to make sure it doesn't happen again."

Sasuke nodded and turned towards the hospital. "When we see each other again, I'm going to want some answers."

Any other time, Sasuke was sure that Naruto would have flashed him a cocky grin. Instead, all he got was a very somber face as Naruto said, "If we see each other again, and Sakura-chan is still alive, I'll think about it. Get going."

ooo

A drunken giggle echoed in Gaara's mind and his eyes snapped open.

"Not that," he whispered as he looked pleadingly up at Han.

The large jinchuriki didn't seem to have heard it, nor did he even react to Gaara's movement. In fact, he wasn't moving at all.

The laughter came again, louder and closer this time.

"Go away," Gaara said as he tried, unsuccessfully, to rise to his feet.

"Why, oh why, would you want me to do that?" a voice laughed in his ears.

"You can't have me!" Gaara yelled. "I won't play your stupid games anymore."

"Stupid games, stupid games… you don't like my games?"

"I'm stronger than you, I don't need you."

"You aren't really that deluded, are you? Besides, you loved it once upon a time," the voice said with a giggle. "All the blood, all the screams. The power you felt when you wiped someone's life out. It made your _mother_ so proud."

"You aren't my mother."

"Maybe I am and everyone else has just been lying to you," Shukaku shot back with a chuckle. "It wouldn't be the first time, would it?"

"Shut up."

"_You_ shut up." The giggling was gone. "You don't like the games, you don't like the power, you don't like the _blood_, fine. Let's play a new game."

"What are you talking about?"

"Let's make a wager."

"Wager?"

"You are unable to control my powers, I am unable to control you. Let's stop dancing around each other and play a game in which either you emerge as the master, or I do."

"How?"

"Hee hee hee, just like that, huh? You don't want to think it over? If you lose, I'll own you forever and the darkness you're so afraid of will never leave. I'll swallow you whole."

"I have something precious to protect. If that doesn't give me the strength to overcome you, nothing will."

"Precious?"

"My brother and sister are in this village, if I don't win here, they will die."

"Fighting for your family, eh? Very well. If you lose, I'll kill them first."

Gaara's eyes narrowed. "Then I won't lose."

"So be it. Relax and let my chakra start to swallow you. If you can keep your sanity, you win, if not… well, I'll be sure to keep you close enough to the surface that you can watch all of my _fun_."

Before Shukaku had even finished speaking, the bijuu's chakra surged through Gaara's body. He gritted his teeth, every muscle clenched as he struggled feebly to push it back down. Then he dropped to his knees as the chakra ran untapped through him. His mouth opened as if to let out a scream, but all that came out was a soft giggle.

ooo

For the second time that day, Kakashi awoke from unconsciousness and found himself in a rather copious amount of pain. This time, however, he quickly remembered the person who had put him in such pain – mostly because it was himself and his shattered, but free, hand was quick to remind him of the plan he'd devised shortly before.

The Rasengan that he'd pushed managed to push into his own wrist in order to break the manacles that trapped him had been small, but still had plenty of power to break bone and iron. His left hand was still trapped in the shackles, but now that he could move both arms freely and could twist his bound hand it wouldn't be difficult to get out.

It would have been easier if his one free hand was still functional, but he wasn't in any position to get picky.

Actually, it was now a very simple thing to get free. There were several small pieces of metal both on the ground and imbedded into his hand, all he needed was a decent sized one that he could get into his mouth and then into the lock on the manacles. Picking the lock with his mouth (and for a few seconds, his feet) was harder than he expected, but not by much. He was an expertly trained jounin, there were few locks in the world that could last long against him when he was determined.

The lock clicked and fell to the ground with a loud clang. A few seconds later, the lock to the cell was also open.

Kakashi wasted no time in walking over to the body that he assumed had belonged to the ANBU guard and examining it for a few seconds. The man's death had been merciful, a single thrust of a blade to the back of the head. He would have felt no pain, might not have even realized he was being stabbed before it was all over.

It was the attack of a well-trained medic-nin.

It was the sort of attack that Rin would have used.

Kakashi sighed and stood back up. She had attacked and killed a Leaf-nin and there was really no one else he could blame it on. The ANBU found outside of Konoha on the day Naruto was kidnapped could have been killed by the Sound-nin that Kakashi and the rest of Team Seven had fought as they tried to save Naruto. Rin had never denied killing them, but she hadn't confessed either. He hadn't pressed her for the truth, in part, because he didn't want to know.

He'd let too much slide with her. She'd been his friend, once upon a time, and so he wanted to protect her, but that time had ended. The next time he saw her, he really would have to kill her.

At that moment, an explosion rocked the building. Kakashi's eyes widened and he quickly hurried up the stairs. Before he'd even reached the main level, the sounds of battle reached his ears and the scent of blood hit his nose. He looked down at his useless hand and cursed under his breath.

He would be extremely limited when it came to using ninjutsu and even taijutsu.

He reached up and lifted his hitai-ate, exposing Obito's Sharingan. Limited as he was, he was still a jounin of Konoha.

It seemed that, once again, he was going to have to put off killing Rin for the time being. A part of him hoped that one of them would find a way to die before they met up again so he wouldn't have to break his word to Obito, but something told him he wasn't going to be that lucky.

ooo

They'd reached the moment they'd been waiting for, but Danzo didn't give the signal. The ANBU seated next to him waited for a second, not taking his eyes off the very small boy and the very large demon cat below them, and then slowly shifted his attention towards the leader of the village.

It wasn't polite. It wasn't really acceptable for an ANBU to do. And yet, he couldn't help himself. He'd bit down his tongue to keep from arguing when he'd first heard the plan. He'd frowned behind his mask when he saw the young man step up to face the woman who had been such a thorn in the side of Konoha's forces. He'd forced himself to sit as still as possible, and mostly succeeded, when Uzumaki Naruto went down and didn't rise for a few seconds.

He couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Now?"

If Danzo was annoyed by the question, he didn't show it. He didn't even turn his eyes away from the two combatants. "No, let's see what he does."

There was more than a frown behind the mask this time, but the ANBU's voice was calm and even. "She might kill him."

Danzo shrugged marginally. "Then that's what will happen."

There was no threat in his tone, but the ANBU still felt it. The conversation was over. Really, it had been over before it even started. "Of course, Hokage-sama."

Danzo was quiet for a second and then said, "We will do everything in our power to make sure that he is not killed, but that is not your job nor your concern."

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"If he does die, however, feel free to begin the operation."

The Hokage's word was law, there was no arguing. The ANBU hoped that Uzumaki Naruto could continue to be as impressive as he'd been before the transformation, but there seemed to be little hope for him now. Skilled as he was, this monster had killed dozens of Leaf jounin over the course of the war. Naruto was ultimately a weak, injured boy. He didn't really stand a chance.

The blond's head snapped to the side as though he'd been struck and, even from the distance, the ANBU could see a tremble run through Naruto's body. He was now a _distracted_, weak, injured boy.

He knew the potential consequences. He knew, but he didn't care. The ANBU's fingers began forming seals as he put Danzo's plan into action without permission.

o

o

A/N: Wow, I just could not write this chapter and I fear the quality may have suffered as I forced myself to do so (or it could be that I've stared at it for so long that I just can't stand it anymore). I'm really sorry that it took so long. I think the problem was that there were so many things that I wanted to deal with that I just couldn't get through them all and they kept getting bunched up in my brain… like a traffic jam or something. I hope the next one won't be like that because school is starting soon and I _really_ can't deal with homework and another chapter like this one. I'd like to say that I'll update again in two weeks (or even three), but after this one, I'm not sure when the next will work its way out of my brain. I'll "most likely" update in less than a month, maybe even as little as two weeks, but I can't make promises until I'm sure how school and everything will work into my schedule. Sorry.

I will reiterate, however, that no matter what, this story will be finished. If I seem to drop off the grid for a while, it means that real life in general or school in particular is hammering me, but I'll always update eventually.

A big thanks goes out to TimeShifter for reading the chapter and telling me that it wasn't as terrible as I thought it was. Seriously, if he'd even hinted that it was subpar, you might not be getting the chapter yet. He didn't however get a chance to beta the chapter as he's going to be travelling to Japan, so I apologize if there's a lot of mistakes.

Thanks for reading, hopefully you enjoyed it. For those of you who found this story (and its predecessor) recently and were thoughtful enough to review, I apologize for not responding. Normally I do, but I've wanted little to do with fanfiction in general and this story in particular during the past month. I'll be better in the future, God willing.

Han – The idea behind Han's powers comes from my thoughts on the idea of combining land and sea animals as well as the fact that a steam "element" must be a combination of fire and water elements (which seems odd because water trumps fire when it comes to chakra). To play this up a little, I decided that Han should be a ninja who favors taijutsu – a purely physical type of attack – but is stuck with a bijuu who gives him powers related primarily to genjutsu – a purely mental type attack. I'm absolutely certain that Han's canon powers would be extremely different from this, but it made for some fun dialog and makes him a bit different from the other jinchuriki we've seen so far.

Hyuuga Ko – For those of you who don't remember, Ko was the Branch family member with Hinata during the end of Pein's attack on Konoha. He told her not to go help Naruto… and she _totally_ listened to him.

Naginata – a polearm consisting of a long wooden pole with a curved metal blade at the end.

Ninjato – a short sword seem most often strapped to the backs of ANBU, but in pop culture, many ninja use it (there seems to be some debate about the historical accuracy of assigning this weapon to them). Basically, they look like a slightly shorter version of a katana.


	13. Unintentional Betrayals

A/N: I'm not dead, I promise. What I am, is frustrated with this chapter. I'd like to reread it a few more times, but I've been messing with it for so long, that I can't see the good anymore, only the mistakes. I think it might be better than I think it is, but since it's been sitting here on my computer mocking me with its stubborn refusal to become something I like, I fear that it would be better just to post it and move on. Maybe at some later point I'll be able to find some fix that will make it better in my eyes. There was a really long and completely pointless Shikamaru bit that got cut, that seems to have helped significantly, but I'm not sure that it makes everything better... well, perhaps I should just let you read it and decide for yourselves, eh?

o

Chapter 12: Unintentional Betrayals

o

It was happening almost simultaneously all around the village. Its frequency was relatively small, not even one in twenty, but the effect was huge. It always began the same way: a group of Cloud-nin would encounter a group of Leaf-nin, one of the Cloud would perform a jutsu and yell seemingly random words, and then – just often enough to be terrifying – some of the Leaf would turn on their friends and attack. Ninja who had graduated from the academy together, who had been on the same team for years, even some who were related, were suddenly at each other's throats with almost no warning.

The psychological impact was devastating and continued to grow exponentially, especially as more and more of the unknowing sleeper agents went active. Eventually, survivors of the attacks began to mistrust each other, wondering when the next would reveal his or her treachery. Unwilling to trust their backs to their own friends, their jobs were made even more difficult.

What was worse was that once the news began to circulate that there were traitors within their ranks – traitors who might turn at any moment – even the slightest suspicious behavior was treated as a threat. More than one unaffected ninja or civilian was cut down by overly anxious friends, who were then cut down themselves when _their_ actions were interpreted as a sign of betrayal.

Even with the added chaos, Konoha outnumbered the attacking Cloud-nin by nearly three to one. The confusion weakened their advantage, but did not erase it. They were on their home territory, fighting for their very survival. Even if they were fighting each other as well as their enemies, they were generally holding their ground.

Konoha's ninja were strong, well trained, and fighting to protect their home. That was powerful motivation that kept things from disintegrating around them when Kumo began to use the strange jutsu. Kumo's ninja, on the other hand, knew that they had been winning the war almost from the beginning and that this one battle could finally decide the conflict. That, coupled with the effects they could see with every use of the mind control jutsu Orochimaru and his minions had put into place, made them very confident. During the first hour or so of the battle, Kumo's confidence and desire to finish things was enough to force a stalemate against Konoha's desperate struggle for survival and numerical advantage. Both sides knew that the tide could start to turn against them with a single psychological blow and that once the chance for victory started to slip away, the battle could turn into a rout for either side.

Each side had strategic pieces in play. Kumo had sent Yugito and a small strike force after the Hokage and Konoha's village elders, hoping to cut off their enemy's ruling head during the confusion of the early battle. Konoha, in turn, had sent their own weakened jinchuriki to hold Yugito off until plans could be put into play to deal with her. If Naruto were killed, it wouldn't affect too many in Konoha since he'd been presumed dead for so long. If Yugito were killed, however, the loss would be catastrophic for Kumo. Yugito succeeding, however, would almost completely crush Konoha, even if they managed to "win" the battle. Kumo would simply come right back as soon as possible and finish the job before Konoha could find new leadership.

In the northern part of the village, Jiraiya and Tsunade, two of the Sannin, were making quick work of the Cloud-nin who came against them. It wasn't a fair fight and both sides knew it, but with the giant toads and slugs on the battleground, it was easier for Kumo's forces to know where the Sannin were and avoid them. The numbers assailing the northern portion of the village quickly dwindled down to only a few powerful jounin. They weren't strong enough to win, but a few had summons of their own and could draw out the fight for as long as possible. They would die, probably, but they would keep Jiraiya and Tsunade busy while other parts of the village were being attacked.

Two of the sleeper agents had been near Jiraiya and Tsunade when the battle began, one had managed a small cut to Jiraiya's arm… both were dead. Kumo's small group of ninja who had still been in the area at that point had hoped that they might get lucky enough to have five or six in the area – and "lucky" would not have even begun to describe how improbable such a cluster would have been – but had been disappointed. Still, it was obvious that both Jiraiya and Tsunade were keeping themselves apart from the other Leaf-nin in the area, not wanting to be put in a position where they could be attacked by traitors within their midst. This weakened their position a little, not enough to cost them their inevitable victory, but enough to make it harder for them to secure that victory with the speed that they wanted to. They weren't exactly neutralized, but they were being held back from the rest of the battle, allowing Kumo to made advances elsewhere.

To the west and south, the fighting was more straightforward. It was in these clashes that the sleepers being activated were doing their true damage. Konoha's ninja fought bravely, but the Cloud-nin were beginning to drive deeper and deeper into the village in ever-increasing numbers. This was a sign that Konoha was falling back, but it was also opening the Cloud-nin up to attacks from multiple directions.

Losses were mounting for both villages as each side's chance of victory danced upon the razor edge of a blade. One false step, one lost opportunity and the battle would turn.

ooo

They stood silently atop the heads of Konoha's greatest leaders, watching through the gloom of rain as the occasional explosion flared up and then died down. Below them they could hear the shouts and cries of war that carried all the way to the tops of the mountains. The rain had long since soaked through their black cloaks, but neither cared that much. They'd both lived long and violent lives, a little rain was nothing more than a minor annoyance. The battle below, on the other hand…

"Well, they're making a big fucking mess of things, aren't they?" The smaller of the two chuckled, his voice sounding amused despite his irritation. "I guess all this shit will make our job a bit messy."

Bright green eyes stared out from under the other's conical hat as he shook his head. "It changes nothing."

"Hey, don't get me wrong; I'm fine with these idiots killing each other. I'd even be happy to go down there and help 'em out; carnage is the key precept of the faith of Jashin. I'm just saying that it's going to a bitch to get her and get out in the middle of all this."

The larger man continued to look down at the burning village for a moment and then said, "There will be trouble if we're discovered. Not much, but enough to jeopardize the mission. There is chaos, but the ninja will be on a higher alert for potential enemies. We'll wait until the fighting is over."

"What if the jinchuriki gets killed?"

"According to Itachi, almost no one in Konoha is strong enough to deal with someone like her. She should survive. If she's anything like the other jinchuriki are supposed to be, she'll probably have little love for her village and will value her own life over the mission. Even if things go badly for Kumo, she won't stay and fight to the death."

"I guess we better hope that asshole is right." The smaller of the two tipped his head back and looked up at the dark sky, allowing the rain to fall directly on his face. "Can we at least get out of this fucking rain?"

ooo

The room was almost completely dark, lit only by a few small lamps near the door and the faint green line tracking the old man's heartbeat. There were shadows everywhere, but only one of them was moving. It slid along the wall, dipped around the heart rate monitor, and then rose up next to the bed.

The old man's breathing remained as labored as ever. He neither opened his eyes nor gave any sign that he was conscious or aware of the peril he was in.

A new light entered the room. This one the soft glint of green light reflecting off the blade of a kunai that was now in the shadow's hand. The blade rose and took aim; its job would be simple.

Though it was hard to remember when, there was a point when the man behind the shadow would have thought his mission distasteful. That was back when honor meant something, back _before_. Those thoughts were mostly gone now, pushed to the far recesses of his mind. He was dimly aware of them, but they were so far away that it was hard to say if he was actually thinking about honor or simply remembering a time when that actually mattered to him.

Things were different now. He served a new master, had new orders, and was compelled to follow them. Regardless of what he wanted, he couldn't turn back.

It was over in the blink of an eye. A man so powerful that some were frozen in fear when they beheld him on the battlefield was ended with such ease that a child could have done it.

A part of the shadow lamented the fact that so a great man should lose his life in such ignominious fashion, but that part was not at the forefront. This death was part of a greater mission, a greater plan. Yes, it was sad, but despite the unfitting manner in which he was killed, the Third Hokage's death would potentially accomplish a greater goal.

The door at the far end of the room opened, revealing a witness. The shadow removed the kunai from the former Hokage's chest; it now had a new job.

ooo

Yugito did not like using her bijuu this way. It was powerful – frighteningly so – but it made it harder for her to think. When she allowed the demon cat to fully come out and, to a degree, merge with her, she tended to lose the ability to act on rational, well thought out plans. Strong destructive instincts that existed in all creatures, both animal and human, tended to quickly overpower her ability to think anything more complex than: Kill my enemies… then find something else to kill… after that, sleep.

The power it gave her was immense, but she'd been known to kill a few allies while in the thrall of the bloodlust that came with the transformation. Bee had far better control than she, though that was to be expected from the brother of the Raikage. From what she'd heard, none of the other hosts of the Nibi had ever been able to hold their sanity once they transformed, so even the few slipups she had were shrugged off by her superiors. The death of an ally here and there didn't take away from the fact that she was an awesome weapon for her village. She was useful and that was all they really cared about.

As she glared down at Naruto, the blond seemed to be nothing but a tiny insect. He looked up at her far more calmly than any other person she'd ever faced, but then his eyes widened and he seemed to start to turn around before thinking the better of it. She could feel her heckles raise as the urge to crush him swelled within her.

_"Do it,"_ the voice of the Nibi whispered in her mind. _"Let's kill him for daring to stand against us."_

"Are you still yourself?" Naruto asked in a strangely choked voice. Even though he was keeping his head towards her, his eyes kept trying to shift to the side, betraying his desire to look at whatever was distracting him.

_"Don't answer,"_ the Nibi hissed. _"Just kill him. Kill him and make him fight against his friends."_

"Yes," Yugito growled in the cat's guttural voice. If she'd thought about it, she might have wondered which question she was answering, Naruto's or the Nibi's, but in this form such lines of thinking were hard to maintain and ultimately pointless anyway. She _was_ herself – mostly – and she _was_ going to kill him and make him fight against his friends.

Her massive paw lashed out, crossing the distance between them in the blink of an eye. Naruto was quick, however, and he managed to dive out of the way as her claws sunk into the wall of the building behind him. She spun her body around with an agility that often surprised her opponents and whipped her two large tails at him. Again, he was barely ahead of her, but still fast enough to avoid being injured.

The Nibi raged within her, furious that their prey was still eluding them. Yugito rose up on her hind legs, preparing to launch a powerful fireball at Naruto.

The blond actually took a second to turn his head and make some sort of movement with his hand before he began forming seals. Even then, he was still fast enough to form a dome-shaped wall of earth before the fireball reached him.

As the heat receded, the mud fell away and Naruto grinned cockily up at her. "Is that it?" he asked.

Yugito roared with enough force to shake the ground, but inside her mind was trying to make a connection that it couldn't quite hold on to. Naruto was different suddenly. It wasn't just the increase in confidence or desire that he'd received after she'd stabbed him earlier in their fight it was… she wasn't sure, she couldn't think. He seemed… cleaner, somehow, and his wounds were… but perhaps she was wrong…

The Nibi yelled at her to get on with it and the thought slipped away again. In the end, it probably didn't matter if he was clean or dirty, bloody or not. She'd kill him just the same.

Suddenly, the ground all around her exploded as large wooden heads shot out of it and latched onto her anywhere they could get a hold. Yugito twisted to the side, ripping several away, but more took their place, pulling her quickly to the ground. She dug her paws into the soft earth and tried to push away, but again more of the mouth-shaped clamps latched onto her, further restricting her movements.

Furious, she tried to howl, but found that her energy was slipping away from her. Soon she could barely move her arms and legs – which were once again becoming those of a human – and then it became a struggle just to keep her eyes open. Her mind was fatigued as it came out of the bijuu haze, but she was coherent enough to realize that something had gone terribly wrong with the plan. The Raikage and the Council hadn't known that Konoha had a power that could suppress the bijuu's chakra.

Across the plaza, she saw Samui, Omoi, and Karui dropping from their hiding spots and running towards her. If Konoha had come up with a plan to capture her here, surely there was a plan to deal with any backup she brought. She tried to yell to them to stay back, but the only sound that came from her mouth was a soft whimper. It took all of her strength just to keep her eyes open.

Kumo's chances for victory began to slip ever so slightly off the edge of the blade.

ooo

The scalpel sliced deep into Sakura's leg and then jerked sideways. Sakura tried to twist away to keep the blade from slicing into anything too important, but considering all of the pain she was already feeling coupled with what was certain to be significant blood-loss, it probably wouldn't matter much in the long run. The instant she made it onto her stomach, the blade came out of her leg and Sakura realized how dangerous a position she'd put herself in. On her stomach, she couldn't really fight back against anything the Fuki wanted to do to her. It would be easy for the kunoichi to step up and slit her throat.

Which was exactly what Fuki moved to do.

Her hand grabbed a big knot of Sakura's hair as her right foot came down on the middle of Sakura's back, pinning her.

Sakura reacted on instinct. Her left elbow smashed into Fuki's left leg – which was still on the ground – with enough force to cause the knee joint to buckle. At the same time, she reached out with her right hand and did her best to grab Fuki's scalpel hand before the sharp edge could reach her skin.

She was partially successful.

The shot to Fuki's leg caused her to pitch forward unsteadily, driving more pressure into Sakura's back, causing her to arch back, giving her opponent that much more to cut at. Sakura's hand, however, was unable to find Fuki's. Instead her hand found the scalpel itself, resulting in a deep, painful cut.

Before Sakura could figure out where the blade was again, Fuki had realized what she was doing and pulled back slightly. Sakura knew her chance was lost. She was completely at Fuki's mercy.

Fuki didn't have to try to slit her throat, she could just jam the scalpel through the back of Sakura's head and there was nothing Sakura could do to stop her from this position.

Suddenly, something whistled through the air and then the weight on Sakura's back eased as Fuki toppled backwards off of her. Sakura wasted no time in rolling onto her back and doing her best to scramble into a sitting position. As she did this, she glanced towards the source of the whistling sound. She felt the little blood left in her body drain from her face.

Ino was leaning heavily against the wall, a thick, wet smear of blood marking how far she traveled in that manner. The tip of her blond hair was drenched in blood, a long jagged cut ran from her jaw to her forehead and another ran along her neck. Her white robe was nearly stained crimson. Her skin was pale from the blood-loss and her face was slack. Sakura could only watch as Ino slowly slid down the wall and then fell forward, not even able to break her fall as her face slammed into the tile floor.

"Ino!" Sakura screamed, trying to rise up to move towards her, but unable to get her injured leg to function properly.

A noise behind her brought her attention back to Fuki who was on her feet once more. Her left leg was broken at the knee, it wobbled awkwardly as she took a step towards Sakura, but she didn't seem to feel the pain. The scalpel Ino had apparently thrown was buried into Fuki's chest, but aside from the blood running down from the wound and out of her mouth, Fuki seemed to be able to ignore that as well. She was once again moving in for the kill, her right hand still clasping the scalpel as she lifted it over her head.

Sakura knew she only had one shot. She had to bet everything on a single blow and pray that she could move fast enough to at least avoid a mortal wound from the scalpel. It would have been nice to be able to hope that she could avoid the blade altogether, but realistically speaking, there was no way she could do that without a miracle.

Fuki took another awkward step towards her and, for a fraction of a second, most of her weight was resting on her broken leg. Sakura threw all of her remaining energy into rolling forward, getting up onto her toes and then diving at Fuki before her own injuries caused her to cease the movement.

Her hand drew back as chakra surged into it, and then she drove it into Fuki's face, forcing all of the chakra to explode outward at the exact moment she made contact. The scalpel blade slid along her back, cutting deep into her shoulder and across the back of her ribs. The damage would be more painful than serious, at least from a structural standpoint, since there was nothing vital back there… she might bleed out faster with the new wound, but the wound itself wouldn't kill her.

Fuki wasn't so lucky. She either hadn't expected the attack, or had just not cared about it. Either way, she hadn't protected herself and it had cost her. Sakura felt the girl's face give way under the force of the punch. Cartilage in her nose, the bone under her left eye, the left eye itself, and even a few teeth were pushed back into the deeper potions of Fuki's skull.

Sakura knew the moment her fist connected that it was a fatal blow. It would be hard to say what killed the girl, but certainly several fragments of bone and cartilage would pierce the brain. The force of the shock to the brain itself would probably be almost fatal, certainly there was no way Fuki would be conscious when it was all over.

Fuki slammed into the wall at the far end of the hall, briefly resting in the small crater created by the impact and then crumpling to the ground.

Sakura lay on the floor, panting for breath and trying to summon the energy to sit back up so she could start trying to heal herself to the point where she could help Ino.

"Rest until the count of three," she whispered, "then get moving. One… t-two… th…" her eyes started to drift closed, "… thr…" it was hard to even remember what number she was on, "…three."

Sakura's eyes snapped open and her fingers began to form seals. Her right hand moved awkwardly, the pain from the cut was almost unbearable and there seemed to be some tendon damage as well. Her seals were slow and sloppy, barely even recognizable for what they were supposed to be. Medical ninjutsu required clean, precise seals. She'd be lucky if she didn't do more damage than good by using a jutsu like this, but it didn't matter. Even if she only managed to sear her wounds shut, she'd take it if it meant she could get to Ino and try to save her.

Her hand glowed a sickly yellow-green color, rather than the normal cool-green of a properly executed jutsu. She stared at it for a second and then bit her lip, preparing herself for the worse as her hand descended towards her leg.

A new hand seemed to materialize out of thin air, latching onto Sakura's wrist before she could use the jutsu. Sakura hadn't even realized she was developing tunnel vision until that moment. A part of her realized that she might be even worse off than she'd guessed.

"What do you think you're doing?!?" a feminine voice admonished from behind an ANBU mask. "You'll kill yourself with a sloppy jutsu like that!"

Sakura looked up at the mask, but couldn't come up with a good answer to the question. It was getting harder to think by the second. "I-Ino," she whispered, pointing weakly towards the spot where her friend had fallen.

"You first," the ANBU told her without looking.

"No," Sakura reached up and tried to push the masked face in Ino's direction, her hand clasping brown hair that hung out behind it, but she quickly lost the strength to even hold onto that. "She… she's hurt more…"

"I wasn't asking," the ANBU told her as her own hands moved through a series of seals and began to glow.

Sakura let out a slow breath and closed her eyes as the wound on her leg began to heal. When she tried to open them a second later, she found that she'd lost that ability. "H-help Ino," she whispered feebly one last time before everything slipped completely away.

ooo

"Why?" Hinata asked, doing her best not to choke on the ash and smoke in the air as she looked up at the man she'd thought she could trust with her life.

"I…I'm s-sorry," he replied in a choked voice as his hand shot towards her heart, ready to deliver a deadly Juuken strike. She was shocked by his betrayal and by the fact that he'd destroyed what might have been their only way out of the inferno, but she was still a ninja. At the last second, she twisted to the side as her left hand swept his thrust away from her body while her right delivered three quick blows to his extended arm.

Her opponent would no longer be able to push chakra out of that hand, at least not for a minute or two, but he wasn't interested in that. With a sharp twist of his wrist, he grabbed onto her left arm and jerked her forward as his other hand came forward holding a kunai.

Hinata was caught off balance and unprepared to defend herself. She knew she was going to take the blade in her stomach. Chances were, the wound would be fatal, particularly when facing an opponent of his level, but if she was lucky she might be able to fight him off and help her little sister and father escape before she bled to death.

Hiroshi dove forward, tackling Ko before he could stab Hinata. The Branch Member dragged Hinata down with him, but Hiroshi was smart enough to go after the kunai before it could be turned on either of them.

"Get out of here!" he grunted as he pulled Hinata's arm away from Ko. The three scrambled about, a mess of tangled limbs and inaccurate Juuken strikes. The wooden floor where they lay was covered in ash and flames, adding further confusion, as arms and legs would randomly start to burn any time they shifted their weight while trying to free themselves.

Finally Hinata was able to untangle herself and push up onto her heels, ready to jump away from the two. Ko reached for her, trying to pull her back down, but before he could Hiroshi's elbow struck him in the face while he kicked Hinata in the stomach knocking her completely free of the pile and also momentarily driving the air from her lungs.

With Hinata gone, it was easier for Hiroshi and Ko to untangle themselves. The two men twisted and rolled, trying to keep the other occupied while preparing a Juuken strike. It was an ineffective strategy that was quickly abandoned as they rolled away from each other and got to their feet, squaring off and settling into classic Juuken stances.

Hinata landed in a heap not far from her sister and father, gasping for air. As she forced her lungs to draw the burning, smoke-filled air into her lungs, her eyes widened. Until that moment, she hadn't had time to look closely at either her father or her sister. Now that she was closer, it was easy to tell the difference between the red light of the flames, the darkness of the shadows, and the other color that was present on her father's clothing.

A dark red spot that had nothing to do with their burning home had spread across his stomach and chest. Hanabi was holding her hand firmly against the wound, but given how much blood it would take to form a spot that large through his thick robes, her efforts were doing little to stem the flow.

Hinata glanced over her shoulder at Hiroshi and Ko as the two men began the intricate dance that marked all Juuken fights and then quickly crawled to her sister's side.

She didn't need to ask what had happened. Ko had obviously attacked him, probably shortly after the fire had started when it would have seemed perfectly natural for a Branch Family member to move so close to the Head of the Clan. The only real question she had was the one that Ko hadn't answered: why?

Probably Hanabi wouldn't know either and even if she did, now wasn't the time to have the conversation.

Hinata activated her Byakugan and quickly examined the wound. In any other situation, she probably would have given in to the urge to turn her head and throw up at the sight she beheld. It wasn't that it was particularly gruesome, she'd seen far worse during the war, but what it meant was so overwhelming that it made her physically ill.

Her father was going to die.

If Tsunade or maybe even Sakura were in the room at that moment, with a bag full of medical supplies, he might have had a slim chance, but without someone like that, there was almost no hope. What looked to be the initial thrust of the blade had been accurate to a degree that few non-Hyuuga's could reproduce on a consistent basis. The subsequent twist and pulling out of the kunai had only compounded what was probably a fatal wound. Hinata's own medical ninjutsu abilities were pathetically inadequate in this situation.

She glanced at Hanabi and swallowed hard, unsure of what to say, almost thankful that Hiroshi's kick had made breathing – and, thus, speaking – so difficult. She could feel the tears bubbling up in her eyes and knew that if she opened her mouth and got some sound to come out, no matter what she said, she would reveal the truth. Would it be better to try to break the news now, or should she let Hanabi – assuming she hadn't already guessed the truth herself – continue to have hope?

Behind them, Hiroshi cried out in pain as Ko's fingers stuck a spot in his abdomen, damaging the organs below.

Hinata decided that Hanabi could enjoy her ignorance for a few minutes longer. She rose and turned towards her father's murderer. She would not let him get away with something like this.

Killing a fellow citizen of Konoha was a heinous crime, but a Branch member killing someone from the Main Family, particularly the Head of the clan? That was unimaginable. It was a crime that had almost never occurred in the history of the Hyuuga. The two who had committed it were not only killed extremely slowly after their eyes had been cut out to show their unworthiness of the name Hyuuga, but their names were removed from every record the clan kept. Everything about them was blotted out; only their crime was left behind.

Ko wouldn't get what he deserved. His punishment wouldn't last for days as it would in any other situation, but he would certainly die.

There were few things that were taught to the heir that weren't also taught to other members of the Main Family. In fact, the only thing that Hinata knew that was different between her training and that of other children in the Main Family was that she was taught a certain seal earlier than the others. As the future leader of the Hyuuga, she had to be trustworthy enough to be taught that seal at an age when most weren't trusted with such information. She had to be above using it because of a petty argument or for childish fun. It was expected of her.

When they explained the seal to Hinata, she'd been horrified. She'd seen her father use it only once and had been too scared to understand what was happening at the time. At the age of ten, after hearing it explained in explicit detail, she'd promised herself that she would never use _that_ seal.

And now she would break her promise to save her friend and her sister.

Hinata lifted two fingers, closed her eyes, and activated the seal on Hyuuga Ko's forehead.

Hinata expected a scream. She expected him to fall to his knees, clutching his head the way her uncle had on the only occasion that she'd witnessed it in action. When she opened her eyes, however, that wasn't happening. Instead, Ko was shaking his head, his eyes twitching uncontrollably, as he took a stumbling step back.

Hiroshi started to move in for the kill, but Hinata hurried to his side and grabbed him by the arm, stopping him.

Ko kept staggering away until he ran into the burning wall behind him. Even the flames licking his skin didn't seem to register with him. He was obviously feeling the effects, but not in the way that he was supposed to.

Suddenly, Ko's head rose up, still shaking, but his eyes were almost clear. "Kill me," he whispered so weakly that Hinata could barely hear him above the roar of the flames around them. "Quickly…"

Hinata turned towards her father and sister and then looked back at Ko. She had never hated another person, not even the man who had tried to kidnap her, ultimately costing her uncle his life, but she was as close as she could get to hating Ko. For what he'd done, he would deserve it if she incapacitated his legs and left him to burn to death within her home… but there was something more happening here, something she didn't understand.

It was as if Ko wasn't in control of his actions.

The moment the thought entered her mind, Hinata was certain that she'd found the answer. It was possible she was wrong, of course, but it cleared up so many questions that she couldn't imagine it wasn't the truth.

Hiroshi pulled away from her grasp, stepped closer to the Branch member, and then his fingers shot forward, catching him once in the neck and then twice above the heart.

Ko dropped without so much as a whimper.

It had been a clean, merciful death. Hiroshi looked back at Hinata and nodded, he'd come to the same conclusion she had. Without another word, the two hurried to Hanabi and her father.

Hiroshi looked around, his Byakugan still active, and then said, "This roof won't hold much longer, but the walls leading to the outside are too unstable, we'll never get all of us out."

Hinata looked up, going through the ceiling wouldn't work either. They could get through, of course, but after that there would be nothing to land on and they couldn't jump all the way clear of the house from this position. She turned slowly away from the nearest outer wall of the building and pointed.

"We'll go farther in."

"We might just run into the same problem that way," Hiroshi pointed out.

Hinata shook her head, her eyes looking through the walls to the lone tree standing in the middle of the courtyard that was on the far side of the building from them.

"No, we'll be safe," she said, not completely sure why she felt it. For some reason the tree seemed to call to her. They'd planted it when her mother died and now… now it was as if her mother was leading her to safety.

Hiroshi did not seem to share her optimism, but he also didn't have any better ideas. He knelt and carefully lifted Hiashi into his arms and nodded for Hinata to lead the way. Hinata covered her mouth, trying to keep as much smoke out of her lungs as possible while she took a deep breath, and then moved to the wall that was blocking their way and calmly created a hole just large enough for them to slip through.

ooo

Han frowned behind his mask as he watched Gaara. The young ninja was standing perfectly still, apparently not being affected by the genjutsu anymore, but also not moving. He was just standing there, giggling softly to himself.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Han growled.

Gaara's face broke into a wide grin, his head rolling lazily to the side as he continued to giggle. His cheeks looked strangely flushed, almost rosy. He looked suspiciously like Roushi after a drinking binge, but that made no sense. Even if the boy was a drunkard, he definitely hadn't had the opportunity to indulge himself. He'd been completely under the Gobi's genjutsu for several seconds and certainly hadn't been drunk prior to that. It was an annoying little mystery.

Mysteries tended to make Han want to break things with his fists.

He walked forward without even the appearance of being on guard, his right hand curling into a fist.

_'It could be a trap,'_ the Gobi reminded him.

"Shut up, Shark Bait, no one asked you." He reared back and swung as hard as he could.

Sand instantly moved to protect Gaara, but before it got all the way up, it stopped and allowed the punch to land. Gaara was sent flying, crashing to the ground in a heap.

Han regarded the body coolly, unsure of what to make of it. The boy's defenses could have stopped or at least muffled the punch, but for some reason they had been held back at the last second. As Gaara slowly began to rise, Han's eyes widened. A punch with that much power behind it and absolutely not attempts to dodge should have turned the kid's brains inside out. If Gaara had escaped with only a few days in a coma, it would have been an impressive feat. Getting up this quickly was impossible.

Gaara's head rolled towards Han, revealing crumbling sand around the area where the punch had landed. "Thank you," the boy said softly, his drunken appearance gone.

"What do you mean?"

"For waking me up. I was almost lost, but you brought me back. Thank you."

Han had no idea what he was talking about and didn't really care. The fight was still on, that was all that mattered. He brought his fingers together and instantly the steam rolled out of its container on his back and rushed at Gaara. Sand rushed up to stop it once again, but Han knew it would be no good. The steam could break down into almost impossibly small particles; it would seep through the sand just as it had before.

Suddenly the sand constricted, appearing to grow smaller and firmer, then the edges rolled over, encasing the steam inside a tightly packed ball that grew smaller and smaller even as more sand rose up from the ground and added to it. Behind the ball, Gaara came into view; his hand extended and closed into a fist. The young man's dark rimmed eyes stared at Han for a moment and then he swung his hand down towards the ground. The ball slammed into the sand at their feet and vanished from sight, while the earth rumbled gently as the ball buried itself ever deeper.

"I'll take it down over two hundred meters before I release it," Gaara explained. "I don't know if that will be enough, but hopefully I'll have finished you off before it has time to rise up through that much sand."

Han was thankful for his mask. It wouldn't do to let an upstart like Gaara see just how shocked he was to see the Gobi's jutsu defeated. He'd faced hundreds of ninja and used the jutsu dozens of times – which, of course, amounted to using it dozens of times more than he ever wanted to. Plenty had found ways to dodge it with varying degrees of success, but he'd never seen anyone beat it.

Sand swirled up and covered Gaara's arm, forming a thick layer around it with strange dark markings and a claw where his hand should have been. Gaara held the claw up in front of his face and frowned thoughtfully as another formed on his other arm.

"You should not have invaded my village," he said, speaking more to himself than to Han. He wasn't really looking at Han, his eyes had drifted to the side, losing focus. "If you had stayed away, there would have been no conflict between us. Now… now these powers will destroy you."

"What are you talking about?"

"We are in the desert and I have Shukaku's powers," Gaara replied. He blinked, the whites of his eyes instantly became completely black, the iris changed to gold, and his pupils were black diamonds. The strange eyes shifted to Han as they narrowed dangerously. "In this village," he growled deeply, "they are the powers of a god."

ooo

Sasuke didn't bother stepping on the stairs as he hurried to the level of the hospital that Sakura normally worked on. He would step on one, then jump onto the wall, then rebound onto the next flight up and repeat the process again. Any normal person would have lost track of his movements after he rounded the corner and began his ascent.

He reached the top with so much momentum that he was unable to control himself when he hit a wet patch. He slammed into the wall with a loud crash that might have been embarrassing under other circumstances. When he looked back at what he'd slipped on and found a thick puddle of blood, any thoughts of embarrassment quickly vanished.

It didn't take him long to find Sakura. She was lying on her back at the far end of the hallway, blood splattered all over the remains of her clothing (which had been ripped open and were lying in tatters all around her), her arms at her sides and her legs together. He nearly fell as he started to hurry towards her, his brain sending conflicting commands telling him to run at full speed and stop at the same time.

His first thought was that she must be dead. He quickly realized that it didn't make much sense that she'd have been put into such a position after death (she certainly wouldn't have _fallen_ like that) and the bandages wrapped around her chest, shoulder, hand and back weren't part of her normal attire, but he couldn't shake the thought.

The two seconds that it took for him to reach her felt like an eternity. All of the time they'd spent together flashed through his mind with perfect clarity. Hours spent training after Kakashi's lessons. Making fun of Naruto when he messed up on missions. Sitting back to back in the library, reading maps and journals that might lend insight into where Naruto could have been taken. Eating ramen together while stubbornly refusing to admit that neither of them was particularly fond of it outside of the memory that it held of their lost friend. Protecting each other during battles as the long terrible war raged on.

There was so much… so much that he suddenly wanted to tell her. So much that he _should_ have said long ago, but hadn't been able to. So much that was supposed to happen, but wouldn't if she was dead. Why had he waited? Why had he waited until it was too late to say the things that were most important? Had he tried to keep her at arm's length because of Itachi? Was his mission to kill his brother so important that he'd let it cost him something suddenly too precious to lose? Had Itachi managed to take _this_ from him as well?

He reached her and knelt, his trembling fingers lightly tracing a bloody cut along her jaw line. Now that he was closer, he could see that it had already been treated. Hope surged through him as he gently checked her pulse and let out the deep breath that he hadn't even realized he was holding. The desire to scoop her into his arms and cry in relief was almost overwhelming. Had she been in better condition, he might have given into it.

His eyes quickly scanned over the rest of her body, carefully noting each wound and making sure that all had been treated. There were a few that hadn't, but they were all minor. The major ones showed sigs of having been stitched before they were wrapped tightly with white bandages. Some had started to bleed through the bandaging, but several of those had some sort of seals painted around them. Sasuke had no idea what they were doing, having never taken the time to worry about medical ninjutsu, but Sakura wasn't dead, so they had to be helping her somehow.

It took every ounce of willpower he possessed to pull himself away from her side and check the rest of the hallway, but kneeling next to her wasn't going to do anyone any good.

Ino was the next person he found. Her skin was ashen and her breathing extremely shallow, but she too was alive. It was hard to be sure, but Sasuke thought it looked as if her injuries had been treated with far less care and far more haste. The only one of them that looked even remotely serious was the cut across her neck. It had been bandaged, but the blood was already beginning to seep through. More seals were written across the bandage, but they looked sloppy compared to those on Sakura.

Sasuke frowned and activated his Sharingan, glancing from Ino to Sakura and then back again. He wasn't mistaken. The healing done on Ino wasn't just hasty; it was almost careless. The work done on Sakura was… different, somehow. There was a gentleness to it that was not evident on Ino.

He blinked, his eyes returning to normal, and shrugged. He would worry about this little mystery later. Whoever had taken the time to heal Sakura and Ino had done a good enough job that he was fairly certain Sakura would survive and Ino had a chance so long as he could find someone to help her soon. If he couldn't…

"What happened?!?"

Sasuke spun on his heel, his hand reaching back for his sword, but stopping short of drawing it. Yakushi Kabuto stood at the top of the stairs, his glasses broken and blood running down from a wound on the side of his face. His hair had fallen out of its normal ponytail and was now hanging loosely about his shoulders.

Sasuke had never been so happy to see Kabuto in all his life. "Get over here," he growled. "Sakura and Ino are hurt."

Kabuto limped towards them, his right thigh was bleeding from a wound just above the knee. "What happened?" he asked again.

"I only just got here," Sasuke replied. He looked around the hallway. There were no bodies of Cloud-nin anywhere. "This wasn't a normal ninja attack," he concluded almost instantly. "Medic-nin are too well trained for this many of them to die without them killing even one of their attackers. Something else is going on." He paused and then, in a slightly quieter voice added, "Naruto said Orochimaru has some sort of jutsu that messes with people's minds. Anyone who was ever alone with the enemy for a while could be under their control. If a few of them were in here… people wouldn't have known what was happening until it was too late."

Kabuto knelt next to Ino, his hands glowing green. "I've never heard of such a jutsu," he said, "how does Naruto know about it?"

"I'm not sure and I don't really care. If he's right, we're going to be in serious trouble. Konoha will tear itself apart if we think that a percentage of our ninja are traitors."

"We're in worse trouble than you know," Kabuto replied, his voice shaking. "I was just with the Third… he's dead."

"What?!?"

"One of _our_ ANBU killed him. I walked in just in time to catch him… or her – I didn't really check. If it wasn't for the battle, I would have walked in off guard and probably would have been killed as well. I was fortunate that _he_ was the one who was not prepared."

Sasuke's knees felt like they were about to give way beneath him. Not only were there members of Konoha's ninja who were under some sort of hypnotic ninjutsu that was making them attack their own side – nearly resulting in Sakura's death – but an ANBU had killed the Third…

Even if they were able to prove that this jutsu was real, there would always be whispers about Danzo's involvement. It was no secret that Danzo and the Third disliked each other. It was also no secret that Danzo had become Hokage through very unconventional means, taking advantage of a crisis and using it to further his own personal ambitions. No one would question that he was capable of doing something like this.

Even if Konoha won this battle, it might be crippled by the scandal and distrust that would be sown. When Kumo attacked the next time, the chains of command might have broken down to the point where a resistance would fail. Konoha would die.

"No one can know," Sasuke whispered as realization dawned on him.

"What do you mean?"

"You can't tell anyone what you saw. I'll go and move a Cloud-nin into the Third's room and take the ANBU out. No one can know that one of Konoha's ANBU killed the Third Hokage."

"If you're caught…"

Sasuke let out a slow breath. "I know."

"People have a right to know about something like this," Kabuto pushed. "It's possible that Naruto-san is wrong and Hokage-sama actually…"

Sasuke's hand went back to his sword. "Stop that thought right there. I don't want to do this, but I _will_ kill you if you can't keep this secret."

Kabuto held Sasuke's gaze for a moment, just long enough to see that he was serious, and then looked down at Ino and sighed.

"Do as you wish. I will stay here. Ino-chan needs attention and if I don't do something soon, there will be permanent damage… if she even lives. I don't have time to fight with you at the moment." His hands continued to glide over Ino's wounds while he frowned thoughtfully. "Will you tell Naruto-san?" he asked before Sasuke turned to leave.

Sasuke paused, letting the idea slowly roll over his mind. "He already knows about the jutsu, he would understand."

"Are you sure?" Kabuto pressed, glancing up briefly from Ino. "He seemed to be under the impression that I was poisoning the Third and nearly killed me for it. If he thought that the Third was being poisoned and that it was the reason for his strange illness, he might believe that Danzo-sama was going to kill him during the battle to make sure that he remained out of the way and that no cure could be found. With Hokage-sama dying from such an obvious wound… we probably wouldn't even examine the body too closely for signs of something like poisoning."

"You sound like you believe Danzo might have actually done it."

Kabuto turned back to his work on Ino, taking his time with his answer. "I don't know anything about the Fifth," he finally said, "but he was named Hokage under unusual circumstances… circumstances that were made possible by the Third's sudden illness. If he is the sort of man who would poison the Third in order to position himself to take the title of Hokage, then he may also be the sort who would order the murder a defenseless old man during the confusion of a battle and then blame it on our enemies to unite us under him."

Sasuke saw him bite his lip for a second and then Kabuto added, "If Naruto finds out that you kept something like this from him, he would consider it a betrayal, I think. Are you really willing to do that to him?"

Sasuke wanted to give the answer that leapt to his tongue, but instantly knew Kabuto was right. And yet he felt certain that he knew what he had to do. The village couldn't have this confusion, Naruto finally seemed to be getting better and shouldn't have to deal with this sort of mess, and – if he really was behind it – Danzo needed to think that he'd succeeded. There was no other choice, but Naruto would definitely feel betrayed.

"He might hate me for it, but this is something I deal with on my own, for now."

Kabuto gave him a look that seemed to say he was sizing Sasuke up and then turned away. Without another word, he rose and entered one of the supply closets, leaving Sasuke to absorb what he'd just decided to do.

Sasuke knew he didn't have any other chance, but this still felt like a dangerous step for some reason. Still, he was used to carrying burdens this large, he could handle it, and he wasn't sure they could. It wasn't a betrayal, he told himself; he was just protecting them. They would understand…

Sasuke turned, hurried out of the hospital and headed towards the Third Hokage's private medical quarters.

He carefully removed the ANBU, placing him in a spot that made it seem that he'd died in a random encounter with a number of Cloud-nin, and then found a Cloud-nin to place in the Third's room. He was as careful as one could be, sticking to the shadows, and always on the lookout for anyone who might be watching. It didn't take long to accomplish his work and start heading back towards the hospital and Sakura.

He thought he was careful. He thought he'd made it in and out without being seen.

He was wrong.

ooo

Naruto was little more than a blur as he rushed through the village. He hoped the clone that he'd left behind – using Kawarimi while hidden behind a wall of earth he'd thrown up to protect himself from the transformed-Yugito's fireball – would be good enough to deal with the mess he was leaving back there. Even if it wasn't, there were others hidden around the area. One of them would succeed, he was certain. She'd been getting sloppy for a while as her frustration grew, it probably wouldn't be that hard to beat her eventually.

He didn't know what Danzo's plan was for the fight, but he had to have gotten far more than he'd expected. Arrogant and irritating as he was, Danzo wasn't an idiot. He'd known just how weak Naruto was. He'd expected Naruto to die in the fight, probably fairly quickly. Which meant… what?

Did Danzo know about Akatsuki or their plans to collect the bijuu? By this point he would have in the original timeline, but things had changed. That information might not have reached him yet. If it had, then finding a way to eliminate one of the bijuu might have been his plan to protect the village, and the world, from Akatsuki. Of course, if that information hadn't reached him, then he was risking a potentially powerful weapon for little gain… it didn't make sense.

Naruto shrugged it off and picked up speed, as he leapt from roof to roof heading in the direction of Hinata's burning house. Though the Hyuuga lived a fair distance from the Hokage Tower, it didn't take him long to reach their section of the village.

He cleared the wall in a single bound and immediately took stock of what he was seeing. Even in the pouring rain, the fire continued to burn. Either the Hyuuga had doused their walls with oil or the fire wasn't natural. Off to the left of the house, he could see a line of Hyuuga carrying buckets from the small, mostly-ornamental well.

Naruto closed his eyes and felt within himself. He didn't have a lot of chakra left unless he tapped into the Kyuubi, and he absolutely refused to do that. Still, "not a lot" to him was quite different from "not a lot" to a normal ninja.

"This won't feel nice, but I'll live," he sighed as he ran towards those in the well. His fingers came together and ten Narutos appeared all around him. "Get out of the way!" he yelled, as the clones began pushing the Hyuuga away from the well.

Without waiting to explain himself, he leapt right in. The well wasn't deep, but it had a good supply of water within it. That, coupled with the rain, ought to be enough. Naruto formed the necessary seals and suddenly the water in the well shot straight up out of it and into the air like an exploding volcano. The clones on the ground were ready, their fingers also forming seals to redirect the water towards the house.

Parts of Hinata's house weren't structurally sound anymore and by the time Naruto jumped out of the well, the water jutsu from his clones had knocked down several walls. If he'd had a little more time and not been so desperate to make sure that his friend was okay, he might have wondered if he hadn't done more harm than good in putting out the fire with so little care. Was dying from being crushed any better than dying from being burnt to death?

Fortunately, he _was_ in a hurry and such worries were the least of his concern.

"Where's Hinata-chan?" he demanded of the nearest Hyuuga.

The old woman stared blankly at him, either shocked by the fact that she'd seen him enter the building with Hinata only a few minutes ago, or by his lack of manners. The fact that he was covered in mud and blood probably didn't help.

"Do you're eyes work or not?" he growled. She nodded dumbly. "Then use them and find her!"

The woman activated her eyes but before she could give him an answer, someone else called out, "She's by the tree, in the courtyard."

Naruto stepped past the old woman and was about to enter the building when he paused and looked over his shoulder. "Are you people ninja or not? Half the genin in this village know enough fire jutsu to torch this place. If you're going to call yourself a ninja clan, shut up about tradition and learn some fucking jutsu!"

He doubted they would appreciate his assessment of their clan, but at the moment, he didn't care. He wasn't Hokage, he didn't have to pretend that their feelings or outrage mattered one bit to him. Their stubborn refusal to learn elemental jutsu might have cost Hinata her life. Tradition was fine, but getting his friends killed was unforgivable.

Without another word, he pushed his way into the still smoldering ruins and began making his way as quickly as possible towards the courtyard.

ooo

Danzo watched dispassionately as the ANBU who had been strategically placed around the area in preparation for this moment swarmed down to deal with Yugito's backup. The three-man cell was highly skilled, particularly with swords, but they were also outnumbered and outmatched. His careful eye ignored the battles and focused instead on Naruto who was still near Yugito.

Kumo's jinchuriki was lying on her stomach in the mud, the wooden dragonheads pinning her there and sucking away the last of her bijuu's chakra so she could be controlled. It wouldn't be long now.

"I should have you killed," he said softly to the ANBU sitting next to him.

If Tenzo was surprised by this declaration, he hid it well behind the mask. His body didn't even twitch.

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"There is nothing to say," the ANBU replied calmly. "I disobeyed your direct order. If you order my death, I will, of course, accept it."

"You endangered the mission with your recklessness. If you had missed her, our plans would have been revealed and there would have been a high probability that all of our young jinchuriki's work would have been for nothing."

Danzo paused as one of the Cloud-nin, a red-haired woman with dark skin, was thrown through the air by an ANBU's jutsu. The damage wasn't severe, however, and one of her teammates was quick to hurry to her aid, saving her life. After a few more seconds, the Cloud-nin realized that they were hopelessly outnumbered and out classed in this fight. They began to beat a hasty retreat, making it out of the area without suffering a loss. To allow an enemy to escape was unacceptable, but Konoha had landed the fish they'd wanted. Such a small error was minor when compared with the victory his plan had secured; he would let it slide, for now.

"The only reason," he said, returning his attention to the ANBU next to him, "I will overlook this is that you are still needed for the safety of this village. Do you understand?"

"Of course, Hokage-sama."

"You will, however, be stripped of your ANBU status. I cannot have ANBU who cannot be implicitly trusted and you are now an unknown quantity."

"Of course, Hokage-sama."

Danzo let out a slow breath through his nose. "Give me a bridge to the ground. I want to talk to our prisoner. After that, you are to head towards the southern section of the city and engage the enemy there. Clones only, I will not have you involved in a fight that puts your life, and the abilities you posses, at risk."

Tenzo's fingers moved through a series of seals and then pressed his hand on the roof they were standing on as three thick blocks of wood burst from the side of the building and began to quickly stretch down to the ground, forming a bridge.

Danzo waited until it was finished and then began to slowly walk down towards Yugito. He didn't hurry, nor give any hint that he was worried that Tenzo might betray him and use the bridge to attack him. He doubted Tenzo would do such a thing anyway, but he was, of course, completely on guard the whole way down.

Tenzo was almost certainly completely loyal, but "almost" wasn't the same as "absolutely." As Hokage, it was important that he not give any sign that he might be afraid. Any foreign ninja who could see him as well as those within his own village who might betray him had to see that his power and control were so absolute that he wouldn't be worried by something as minor as a jounin's sneak attack.

Naruto was waiting for him when he reached the ground. The ANBU who had been fighting the Cloud-nin had scattered to tend to the next series of instructions that he'd given them. A few were hidden around the area, but most had moved on to other sections of the village where the fighting was still going on.

Just looking at Naruto, Danzo had to admit that the boy seemed to be the very picture of loyalty. He dropped to one knee as soon as his Hokage reached him and kept his head bowed until he was told to rise.

"You did well," Danzo told him, watching carefully.

Naruto nodded. "Thank you, Hokage-sama."

"Extremely well," Danzo added to see how the boy would react.

Naruto shrugged. "I'm a ninja of Konoha," he replied as though that explained how he had been able to learn to use three different elements in such a short period of time.

Danzo smiled at him, it wasn't easy and the expression felt strange on his face. "Yes, a shining example for all to follow," he said in a voice that was completely devoid of sarcasm. _That_ took effort as well.

If Naruto realized that he was being humored, he didn't show it. "Do you need me here for anything else?" he asked.

"No, there are others who will handle the next phase of the plan. Head to the northern wall and meet up with Jiraiya and Tsunade. Do not engage the enemy unless it is impossible to avoid until you are with them. In your present condition, you could be overwhelmed and captured or killed."

He didn't add that it would be very annoying to gain one bijuu only to lose a stronger one. He also didn't add that he was completely aware of the fact that he was talking to a shadow clone. The only reason he wasn't going to have a team of ANBU following this Naruto was that they would be busy looking for the real one.

_'Let the boy continue to think that everyone around him was an idiot who had no idea what he was capable of_,_'_ Danzo mused to himself. _'It will only make watching him that much easier.'_

The clone bowed his head and hurried to obey his Hokage's orders.

Danzo turned and knelt next to the barely conscious Yugito. He slowly lifted the bandages covering his right eye, revealing the damaged Sharingan beneath. Her barely opened eyes met the Sharingan and then blinked slowly as what little struggling she was managing came to a stop.

"There," he said, covering his eye once more and standing up again, "that will keep you quiet until we are ready to make use of you."

ooo

She was good, Kakashi had to give her that. She was helped by the rain and the fighting, of course, but still, she wasn't as rusty as he'd hoped she would be. Even with his Sharingan picking up impossibly minute details, Rin's trail had quickly gone cold. She'd expected to be followed and had taken precautions. In this mess, he would never find her; probably he shouldn't even have wasted this much time trying.

Hampered as he was with a broken wrist, he wasn't sure how much good he would be against anyone higher than chuunin level, but in a war like this, you couldn't really pick and choose your opponents. He would just have to do what he could to protect his home and worry about Rin later.

As if to prove his point, he heard the sounds of splashing in the mud behind him and turned to find three Cloud-nin running at him, weapons held high. Had they any idea who he was, they probably would have taken a slightly different approach.

The first to reach him thrust a sword at Kakashi's chest, but the jounin's Sharingan tracked the movement perfectly and Kakashi spun on his heel around the attack. Even as he spun, his left – and uninjured – hand slipped into the Cloud-nin's pouch and retrieved a kunai, which Kakashi promptly planted in the back of the man's neck. He didn't even make a sound as he fell and Kakashi turned towards the other two.

They slowed their pace, suddenly cautious now that he'd proven to be more than an easy target. Kakashi carefully weighed his options, hoping that they wouldn't resort to ninjutsu or be of a very high level as that would make things far more difficult for him.

Whatever their plans or abilities might have been, the whole thing was made mute as two Leaf-nin appeared out of an alley to their left and streaked across the Cloud-nin's path. The two ninja barely had time to look confused before they collapsed to the ground in several pieces.

Kakashi turned towards his backup and nodded this thanks. The two men were young, maybe sixteen or seventeen at most, and both were carrying swords that they quickly replaced in the scabbards strapped to their chuunin vests.

"Are you alright, Kakashi-san?" the taller of the two asked as he brushed wet brown hair away from his eyes.

Kakashi looked down at his broken hand and said, "I'll live, though if you have a medic-nin in your group, I could probably be healed to the point where I'd be useful."

The two exchanged a quick glance and then the brown-haired one, who was apparently the leader, shook his head sadly. "Sorry, Maiko – our medic – she… she didn't survive our last mission."

Kakashi sighed. "My condolences…" his voice trailed off, letting them know that he had no idea what to call them.

"I'm Katsu, this is Yukio." Katsu supplied in a subdued voice. His face remained grim for a moment longer and then something like a feral grin spread across his lips. "It's okay, we're taking our revenge on as many of them as we can find."

Kakashi knew a great many ninja in this sort of situation often felt the same. He certainly hadn't been opposed to fighting Rock-nin after Obito's death all those years ago. "Alright," he said, looking up and scanning the surrounding area, searching with his eyes and ears for sounds of battle, "let's see if we can't find you a few more to take your grief out on."

At that moment, a familiar voice called out: "Kakashi-sensei!" as Naruto dropped from above and landed in a crouch in front of him.

"I've been looking everywhere for you, sensei," Naruto said, ignoring the surprised looks he received from Kakashi and the two Leaf-nin. "Where have you been?"

Kakashi held up his limp hand. "Indisposed, I'm afraid."

Naruto didn't press him for details, much to Kakashi's relief. As far as he knew, Naruto wasn't even aware of the fact that Rin was still alive, much less that she was – or had been anyway – a captive of Konoha. He also wouldn't have been aware of how much time Kakashi had spent with her during the last two years. Kakashi intended to tell him about it sooner or later, but now was hardly the time for that discussion. It _certainly_ wasn't the time to tell Naruto that the woman who had helped capture him so he could be tortured for last two years had just escaped.

"If you can't fight, we need to get moving," Naruto told him calmly. "I spotted one or two Cloud-nin heading this way just before I jumped down."

"Good," Katsu said, reaching back for his sword. "This way we don't have to hunt them down."

Naruto looked at him in surprise, giving Kakashi the impression that Naruto completely forgotten the other two Leaf-nin were there. He did his best not to smile, even though it would be hidden behind his mask anyway. Naruto was still Naruto.

The Cloud-nin Naruto had seen arrived less than a minute later and found the street deserted. Kakashi, Naruto, and Yukio were hidden behind the debris on one side of the street; Katsu was standing on the wall of an alley, halfway up the building. The small cell of Cloud-nin slowed, sensing danger, and glanced at each other, exchanging a shrug.

One of them brought up his hands and formed a few seals and then in a loud voice, called out: "Konoha's green leaves turn to dust before the lightning!"

Neither Kakashi nor Naruto was so inexperienced as to whisper the obvious question that they both were asking, but they did exchange glances. At that moment, Yukio started to rise to his feet, his hands already gripping his sword as an almost surprised grunt passed through his lips.

Kakashi reached for him, trying to pull him back down before he broke cover, but Naruto was faster. The blond was on his feet in an instant, grabbing Kakashi and pulling him out of the way before the Yukio's sword hit its target: Kakashi's head.

Yukio twisted the sword in his hand, flipping the edge up as it rose towards Naruto. Naruto sidestepped and caught the older boy by the wrist with his right hand, holding Yukio's arm in place as Naruto's left fist smashed into his elbow, shattering it.

The sword fell from the suddenly limp hand. Naruto caught it and in one smooth motion tossed it to Kakashi who was already moving towards the two Cloud-nin. Yukio stepped back and tried to throw a punch with his broken arm. The effort was useless and should have been painful, but the young ninja didn't seem to show it.

The two Cloud-nin were not prepared for Kakashi. No doubt when they heard the sounds of struggle coming from the Leaf-nin's hiding spot, they'd assumed that whatever they'd done would cause chaos. Naruto's quick reaction and Kakashi's ability to adjust his plans on the fly caught them off guard. The first one was dead before he even realized what they were facing. The second fired off a lightning jutsu, but it was poorly aimed. Kakashi slipped around him and buried the sword through his left shoulder blade and out his chest. His heart severed, the Cloud-nin was basically dead before he landed face fist in the mud.

Kakashi turned back towards Naruto just in time to see Katsu leap from the alleyway, his sword over his head, poised to strike.

"Naruto!" Kakashi yelled.

Naruto spun on his heel, catching Katsu so cleanly by the wrist that Kakashi was certain that Naruto had already realized that the attack was coming, and guided the young man's sword into Yukio's stomach. Katsu didn't even seem shocked by the sudden turn of events. Instead, he pulled his arms sideways, cutting his way out of Yukio, and then lashed out once more at Naruto.

Before Katsu could complete the motion, Naruto stepped inside his guard, one hand grabbing Katsu by the arm to halt the swing, the other shooting up and slamming into the base of Katsu's nose.

Every muscle in the young Leaf-nin's body seemed to contract at the same time and then he toppled backwards onto the ground, his sword slipping from his grasp. Naruto carefully kicked the sword farther away from Katsu's limp hand, though it seemed to be a pointless precaution, and then knelt next to the young man's body.

He closed his eyes and let his head fall back so that the rain was splashing down on his face as Kakashi approached. "Shit."

"What the hell happened?" Kakashi demanded.

"Did I tell you how you died in the future?" Naruto asked, without opening his eyes or even turning his face away from the rain.

Kakashi remembered all too well. "Yes."

"That's what this is." Naruto was quiet for a moment and then opened his eyes and rose to his feet as he said, "It's probably happening all over the village. Anyone who ever came back from a mission where there were only one or two survivors could be compromised."

Kakashi let the idea wash over him. In a war that had gone on as long as this one had, with small battles often occurring between three and four man cells of ninja carrying out their different missions, dozens of people had probably come back from situations like that. How many had been captured and turned into human bombs?

"Have you told anyone else about this?"

Naruto shook his head wearily. "Just Sasuke. He's supposed to be finding Sakura-chan and making sure she's okay. I… I didn't know they would be using it already. I didn't even really think about it until Hinata-chan was attacked."

Kakashi was silent for a moment and then he said, "You're stretching yourself too thin. How many fights are you dealing with right now?"

Naruto tried to smile. "Hard to say."

"When you release yourself, will the others listen to me suggesting that all or most of your clones also release so the original has more chakra to use?"

This time Naruto managed the smile. "Definitely hard to say." He scratched the back of his head and asked, "How long have you known?"

"I was pretty certain the real Naruto wouldn't just coincidentally be stumbling across me in the middle of a full-scale attack, but when you mentioned that Hyuuga Hinata was attacked… Let's just say that you definitely wouldn't be this far away from the Hyuuga's part of the village."

A strange look passed over the clone's face and then he sighed loudly, almost resignedly. "Probably true," he admitted.

Kakashi leaned down so they were face to face and said, "Trust your friends to take care of themselves if they can. If you're running low on chakra, you won't be much good to them anyway."

With that, he patted the clone on the back with such force that it vanished in a puff of smoke.

Kakashi had no idea if Naruto – or the Narutos, in this case – would listen to him, but he'd have to worry about it later. The Fifth needed to know about this jutsu before things got too bad in the village and Kakashi needed to find someone who could heal his wrist so he could join the battle in a meaningful way. A part of him wanted to hurry to the Hyuuga estate (where he was certain the real Naruto would be), but there was no time for that. He would just have to take his own advice and trust Naruto to take care of himself.

ooo

The wind seemed to swirl around them, trying to choke and blind them with sand. No doubt many travelers had been swallowed by the desert after succumbing to a similar wind. The two men it was hungry for this time, however, were unlikely to die so easily. Each had traveled in and out of almost every country in the ninja world. A simple desert and a few gusts of wind were not going to slow them, much less knock them off course and send them wandering aimlessly through the vast wilderness.

The smaller of the two lifted his dark collar a little higher and narrowed his eyes, peering under his conical hat and through the blowing sand at the tall mountains in the distance.

"Not too far now, right?" his much taller companion asked as he adjusted a large object covered in white bandages that he was carrying over his shoulder.

His companion continued walking without saying a word. The larger man hadn't expected an answer anyway.

"Seems like kind of an overkill to send both of us after these two. From what I've heard, the Yonbi is in an old man and the Gobi's jinchuriki doesn't like ninjutsu or his biju. I can't imagine you'll have much to do while I take care of them."

"It is unwise to be overconfident, Kisame. We have our orders, and we will follow them."

Kisame chuckled, waving his hand in front of his face in an effort to keep back the swirling sand. "You can be such a cold fish, Itachi."

Itachi's eyes shifted towards his teammate momentarily and then back towards their destination. "You are hardly one to talk."

It was about as close to a joke as Itachi ever came. Certainly closer than he'd ever allow in front of anyone else. It was one of the reasons that Kisame liked Itachi so much, getting comments like that out of him was something of a game. Of course, if Itachi weren't such a cold fish, there would probably have been a lot more Uchiha still alive.

ooo

Suigetsu was annoyed. They had been walking for what felt like days and it was hot. Not _that_ hot, really, but hot enough that he was more thirsty than usual. There had been the occasional ninja or bandit to deal with, but none of them had even been worth mentioning. Most times, Orochimaru used a jutsu that allowed them to almost walk right by the patrols.

Obviously they were going somewhere that had a ninja village, but Suigetsu wasn't even sure which one. The few times that they encountered ninja, Orochimaru usually had them dead and disposed of before Suigetsu could even see what hitai-ate they were wearing, assuming they even wore them. Suigetsu had killed a few ninja and those had mostly been wearing Amegakure hitai-ate, but all of them had a slash through the symbol, marking the wearers as missing-nin.

"Ah man, this is a lot of walking, isn't it?" he groaned as he reached for his water bottle once more. "My feet are killing me; aren't we going to get to this mysterious place soon?" The sword was heavy too.

"Shut up Suigetsu," Karin growled. "Orochimaru-sama won't tolerate your rude questions."

Suigetsu rolled his eyes. He really hated Karin. He almost hated her as much as he hated Orochimaru. In fact, he wasn't particularly fond of anyone in this little party, which begged the question of why he kept travelling with them. "Well I'm not really asking _him_, am I? You're the one who's leading us, after all. How far away is this person you're taking us to?"

Karin sighed. "Not far now."

"'Not far' like five kilometers, or 'not far' like five hundred kilometers? We've been walking for days."

She sighed again. "Closer to five than to five hundred."

The questions were getting fun. One nice thing about being bored and travelling with people you didn't particularly like was that you could always entertain yourself by irritating them. "How _much_ closer?"

Karin's right eye twitched dangerously, but instead of doing something fun like exploding and giving Suigetsu an excuse to beat the crap out of her, she glanced at Orochimaru and forced herself to calm back down. "If I tell you, will you shut up?"

Suigetsu felt let down and was now even more annoyed than he'd been before. Not only was he hot, his new sword rather heavy, _and_ the company not exactly ideal, but Karin wouldn't even give him the pleasure of getting royally pissed off so they could have a fight. "I might."

"Fifteen."

"Damn, that's still a long ways."

"No it isn't."

Suigetsu readjusted the strap to his sword. "Feels long. We should take a break, I'm thirsty."

Orochimaru glanced over his shoulder. "Shut up, both of you," he said in a voice laced with killer intent. "Suigetsu, when we get where we are going, you can drink all the water you want. If you don't wait, I'll kill you and you can drink your own blood."

Suigetsu fell silent for a moment and then leaned over towards Karin and whispered. "Heh, he's in a bad mood today. Maybe he's losing his nerve."

Orochimaru didn't give even the slightest hint before he attacked, his sword flashing through the air and coming within a centimeter of Suigetsu's neck. Suigetsu's eyes widened and his hand started to move for his own sword.

"Hey! Watch it with that thing! I don't care about the blade, but that poison could actually kill me!"

Orochimaru's sword slid back into the mouth of a snake that disappeared back up his sleeve. "Then be silent and wait until we get there. I'll be in need of your powers soon. I'd hate to have to leave your corpse on the side of the road and be forced to think up a new plan just because you couldn't hold your tongue."

Suigetsu scowled, folding his arms across his chest and giving an impudent snort. "…fine."

On and on they walked. The journey was far more than fifteen kilometers, Suigetsu was certain. The fact that he kept expecting it to end only made the wait worse. He was certain that Karin had told him the wrong distance on purpose, just to be mean.

"Bitch," he muttered under his breath.

"What was that?!?" Karin growled, rounding on him.

"I said I have an _itch_," he replied with a smile that was meant to tell her that he was lying.

Orochimaru interrupted their fight by holding up his hand. "Shut up, we're here."

Suigetsu looked up and his eyes widened, he hadn't been paying much attention to their surroundings while he grumbled to himself about the length of the trip. "What is this place?"

A short distance away was a large lake, on the other side of which was an enormous city, a city unlike any Suigetsu had ever seen. It was something that they should have visible from a long ways off, but was hidden by a large cloud that was currently pouring rain down upon the city.

The cloud spread almost all the way across the lake and easily covered it and the city beyond.

"I like this place already," Suigetsu said, not really meaning it. Still, at least it had a lot of water and would let them get out of the sun. He started to walk again, but Orochimaru held out his hand and stopped him.

"Wait."

"What?"

"The moment that rain hits you, he'll know we're here."

"_He_?"

Orochimaru smiled. It was not a pleasant sight. "We're on our way to see a god. So, let's make sure he doesn't know about us until we're ready. After all, we want to make a good impression."

o

o

A/N: Done! Wow, this was just a painful chapter to write. Hopefully it wasn't too painful to read. Sorry it took so long (four months, yikes!). My excuses are long and fairly valid (two surgeries in the family, school sucking, three visitors from Africa for two weeks, a Thanksgiving vacation away from home, sucky finals to go with a sucky semester, a Christmas visit from family that slept in the computer room, etc…), but in the end, they're just excuses. If I'd really made this chapter a priority, I could have been done a long time ago. Unfortunately, because it was such a tough one to write, I tended to avoid it when I could… which strangely didn't help it get done. Who would have guessed?

Well, one more chapter, hopefully, and then I think I'll be done with all this fighting and war stuff so I can move on (at least temporarily) to a more interesting part of the story (at least in my mind). I think if I could go back and do it again, I'd probably give serious consideration to NOT having several big battles in this story already (and to having Naruto rescued sooner and to a small time skip that lets him recover a little faster from his ordeal… planning has not been my strong point in this story so far).

Anyway, those of you who are still out there, I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Thanks for reading, hopefully the next one won't take so long.


	14. Rising Dawn

Chapter 13: Rising Dawn

o

Gaara's arm – still covered in sand that had fashioned itself into the shape of Shukaku's clawed arm – flashed forward. His hand was outstretched as if he expected to reach across the considerable distance that separated himself from Han and grab the large man. Truth be told, he did.

Han leapt to the side as the sand claws impaled the spot he'd been standing a split second before. The big man rolled up onto his feet easily, but in the brief time it took him to do that, the sand claw had changed course and was now coming at him from behind while the sand surrounding Gaara's other arm was coming at him from the front. He took a small step back, placing himself in the spot where the attacks would land simultaneously, waited, and then dove out of the way. The two sand claws slammed into each other, forming a big disorganized mess, and then two more formed out of that mess and continued the pursuit.

Han almost looked delighted.

He again waited until the sands were almost on top of him and then avoided them, only this time he rolled onto his feet and was instantly sprinting towards Gaara. The sand trailing in his wake had no chance of catching him in time, but Gaara wasn't worried.

Han's enormous fist pulled back and then swung forward at Gaara's head with such force that had it connected it probably would have decapitated him. Sand sprang up from around Gaara's feet, knocking the punch to the side and then enveloping Han's arm as the trailing sands finally caught up to him. Han twisted to the side and then leapt into the air, using the sand that was holding his arm as a fulcrum to swing his body up and around the two sand claws that were now heading straight for Gaara.

The sands split, parting as though there were an invisible wall around Gaara, and circled around him before shooting up and catching Han before he could hit the ground.

"Damn, thought I had you," the big man grumbled as steam poured out from the mushroom shaped objected on his back. The sands that had just captured him turned sluggish and limp. With little apparent effort, Han slapped at them and was free. He dropped to the ground right in front of Gaara and lashed out with his foot.

Gaara's golden eyes didn't so much as flinch as sand once more intercepted the attack and turned it away. Before it could once more grab hold of the big man, however, Han leapt back and then came at him from a different angle, looking for a weak spot. Three times he tried it and three times he was turned away.

Gaara watched his efforts with visible contempt and well-hidden curiosity. When the sands had caught Han in the air the battle _should_ have been over. Instead, Han's steam powers had done something to the sand, making it hard to control and allowing the big man to escape. In those brief seconds, things had gone wrong in a way he'd never experienced before, but Gaara wasn't completely sure what it was.

Actually, he had experienced something like it once, though it had been many years. When he fought in the Chuunin Exam preliminary matches, he'd faced an opponent who could absorb chakra from people and objects. This wasn't completely the same, but close enough to concern Gaara as Han was far more competent than the boy he'd faced back then.

Finally, Han grew bored of his attempts at finding a hole in Gaara's defenses. Steam sprang from the object on his back, formed into a small cloud, and flew at Gaara.

Gaara rolled his eyes as sand instantly rose up and captured it, encasing it in a thick sphere and then dragging it into the ground.

"I've already beaten this technique," he told the older ninja. "Find something new for me to crush."

In defiance of his words, however, the sands of the road shifted near the spot where he'd pulled the steam into the ground as some of the dangerous cloud escaped into the air once more. A mild annoyance, but still nothing to cause too much concern; the ground in front of him formed into a half dome facing Han, and then curled in on itself, hopefully catching the remainder of the steam and dragging it down as well.

Han tried two more times, steadily increasing the amount of steam he used in each cloud, testing to see the limits of Gaara's ability to defeat it just as he'd tested Gaara's defenses against physical attacks a few moments earlier.

Gaara frowned, capturing steam was harder than he'd thought it would be, even with his new mastery of Shukaku's powers. In fact, Gaara wasn't completely sure he _had_ mastered Shukaku's powers. He had more control of them certainly, but it seemed that he should be able to do more if he was truly in complete control of the demon within.

Regardless, he was more powerful than he'd ever been before, and that ought to be enough to deal with someone at Han's level.

What he needed to do was put an end to Han's ability to use the steam. As near as Gaara could tell, the mushroom shaped object on his back was the key. If he destroyed that, the fight would be over.

As soon as his sands had finished off the last of the steam, he thrust his arm forward, hand outstretched. Sand that had been swirling around him, ready to protect him should any steam get too close, suddenly shot towards Han, forming into a deadly spike. A cloud formed around Han, intercepting the spike. The sand passed right through it, but as soon as it came in contact with the cloud, it lost its cohesiveness and fell to the ground, little more than wet sand.

Han's abilities were beginning to annoy Gaara. For the moment, even with his newfound control of Shukaku, Gaara and Han were in a stalemate.

Gaara had no intention of letting that continue. He pulled his arms back, felt his chakra latch onto the sands around him, and then threw his arms forward. As the new wave of sand hurried towards his enemy, Gaara slid his right foot forward, pushing chakra into the sand at his feet. Han summoned more steam to protect himself, looking as disgusted as ever with his need to rely on his bijuu's abilities, and again the sands were unable to get through. As the last of the sand fell impotently to the ground, Han's steam drifted back behind him, waiting to be called upon to attack. At that moment, Gaara twisted his foot in the dirt, and the sand at Han's feet grabbed onto him and became as hard as stone.

Han looked down, his eyes widening in surprise. He gave an ineffective attempt at pulling one of his feet out and then reached down, grabbed his left leg by the calf and gave a mighty yank, pulling that foot free. Once one was on solid ground, it was apparently quite easy for him to pull the other out.

Not that it mattered.

He looked up just in time to see another spike of sand rushing up on him. Steam rose up to block it, but it was only quick enough to dull the tip, not to stop the attack. The sand didn't impale Han as Gaara had hoped, but it did slam into him, driving him back against a wall.

Gaara spread his hand wide and the lump of sand turned into the claws of Shukaku. He almost smiled victoriously as his hand began to form a fist. He'd won.

Or so he'd thought. At that moment, Han drove his head back into the wall, shattering it and forming a bit of extra space that the sands didn't swallow up quickly enough. Steam once more spread around his body, loosening the sand's grip on him. With a roar of exertion, he broke free.

A second wave of sand slammed into him before he had a chance to take a breath. As soon as he'd freed himself from that one through a combination of steam and insane strength, he was again hit with sand, this time in the form of sharp spike and shuriken-shaped projectiles. The steam kept all of these attacks from being as deadly as they would normally have been, but it couldn't protect him completely. With enough speed and mass, even limp uncontrolled sand was doing damage.

Gaara had always had more chakra than almost anyone else he knew, certainly more than anyone else his own age, but with Shukaku's power now flowing through him, he was on a whole other level from where he'd been before. He was certain he could throw wave after wave of sand at Han until he'd used up the whole desert and still would have chakra left in reserve.

The other jinchuriki obviously had plenty of chakra to go around as well, but he was on the defensive now and Gaara could smell the blood in the sand. Without ceasing the attacks hitting Han head on, he began to bring sand in from other angles as well. Spikes, claws, solid walls… Gaara was dragging it all down on Han, determined to bury, crush, or tear him apart.

Eventually the pile of sand got to the point where Han couldn't get to the top of one attack before another two hit him. Soon he was almost completely buried.

Gaara placed one hand on the ground and pushed even more chakra into the sand. The sand dune that now covered Han constricted until the pressure was more than any body could possibly handle.

He glanced over his shoulder at Roushi, making sure the old man hadn't moved to help his companion or to attempt a sneak attack, but the other Rock-nin was still sitting in the same spot. About the only thing that had changed was that he wasn't looking forlornly at his broken bottle anymore.

Suddenly, Gaara felt something move within the sands. He frowned and turned back to the dune just in time to see a single hand smash through the hardened sand.

Gaara brought his hands together, forming seals. The sand beneath Han would be loosening now; his own weight would drag him deep into the depths of the earth until the pressure crushed him.

Han however, wasn't sinking. His hand flexed, and then he pulled another hand up, followed by his head and shoulders. His body was covered in steam. Within seconds, he was once more free of the sands. Gaara was so surprised that he didn't even attack right away.

Han slowly rose, blood dribbling out of his mouth, but he didn't shake or stagger the way a normal man in his condition might. The mask that covered his face had been crush, pieces of it were still imbedded into the flesh of his cheeks. His hat was gone as well and his short red hair was dripping with sweat and blood. His armor was shredded; those few pieces remaining were now cutting into his skin when he moved. About the only part of his outfit that he'd managed to protect was the steam holder on his back. Gaara had no idea how he'd managed that, unless he'd somehow concentrated the steam back there to protect that piece while sacrificing the others.

Still, he intended to aim for that spot and that spot alone for the rest of the battle. Once that piece of equipment was dealt with, there would be no more trouble.

"You're losing," Roushi called out in a bored and rather cranky voice. "Whacha gonna do now?"

"Shut up, bastard," Han growled, wiping blood away from his lips and turning his red eyes towards Gaara once more. "The kid and I are just starting to have fun."

"Maybe if ya weren' such a sissy, ya'd use yer bijuu the way it's supposed to be used."

"I've told you a million times that I don't need that Fish Dick," Han spat. "His powers are shit! I'm mad enough that I'm even using them as much as I am, if this kid didn't use sand, I'd be better off without them! Besides, it takes forever to push him back down once he starts to come out more than he is now. If he ever got so far out as to make me transform a little, who knows what crap he'd make me do?"

"You sure ya won't even try? Can't hurt now, can it?" Roushi rolled his head towards Gaara, apparently too lazy to use the muscles in his neck to turn it properly. "After all, yer facin'," he chuckled, "a _god_."

"I'd rather die."

Roushi sighed. "Can't be helped, I suppose."

With what looked like considerable effort, he rose to a standing position, placing his hands on his back and wincing as he rose. "Damn ol' bones," he groaned, "knew I should'a stayed home."

"Stay out of this fight, old man," Gaara warned him in an even voice, "and I will not kill you."

"Ach! Ya ain't gonna kill me, dumbass," Roushi laughed. "Ya don't even know what I am!" He twisted to the side until his back popped and then let out a contented sigh. "Talkin' like ya know anything about anything… bad idea, little one. You ain't nothin' but a wee baby ninja; grow up a little before ya start talkin' like that."

Sand covered Gaara's arm and then shot towards Roushi, claws extended and ready to crush the old man in a single blow. Han was nearly defeated, but still dangerous. Whoever this Roushi person was, Gaara didn't want any distractions until after he'd dealt with the most dangerous of his opponents.

Gaara felt the heat even from a distance as his clawed arm suddenly melted into fiery, red lava. The lava melted its way back towards Gaara, gobbling up the sands of his "arm" like a hungry demon. With a single thought, Gaara allowed the sands to fall apart and scatter to the wind, forming up behind him.

Roushi looked down as fiery red chakra danced up his body like flames, forming a large, bulky shell around him with three tails whipping back and forth in the breeze. "All this sand," he said in a deep, heavy voice as a wicked smile formed on his lips, "that ya think makes ya a _god_… I'll devour it all." He looked up, revealing glowing orange eyes and sharp teeth. He was the very picture of a demon. "What's that make me?"

Gaara lifted his hands, the sands behind him swelled up to the height of the few still-standing buildings around them. "Still less than me," he replied coolly as the sands surged forward and crashed down on Roushi.

The sand piled higher and higher, forming a huge drift against the remains of a nearby building. Three quick motions with Gaara's hands caused the sand to constrict to the point that it could turn stone into dust; bones and flesh would become a substance similar to paste. It hadn't worked on Han, but it was unlikely that Roushi would also possess the steam powers that made Han so troublesome.

Whatever Roushi's powers were, Gaara could instantly tell that the old man wasn't dead, which meant that he was probably going to be a troublesome opponent as well. For the moment, however, he was contained and that would have to be enough.

Sand surged up once more beneath Gaara, this time lifting and propelling him towards Han. The giant man swung a huge fist at Gaara's face, but still more sand intercepted it while the sand pushing him dipped down so he passed beneath the fist. One of Gaara's sand covered arms swiped at Han's back, trying to take out the steam-holder, but the big man anticipated it and rolled away. Before he could get back to his feet, Gaara's other arm shot forward, extending until it slammed into Han's chest and pinned him to a wall.

Gaara began to curl his hand into a closed fist, intending to squeeze Han to death, but once more the sand lost its grip and Han fell free.

Before Gaara could follow up on his attack, his attention was drawn back to the sand he had buried Roushi in. In the middle of the pile, a glowing red light appeared. Within a few more seconds, the light had reached the surface, burning back the sand as a slowly expanding globe bubbled to the surface.

The bubble burst, releasing a large cloud of steam out of which Roushi stepped, still covered in the fiery red chakra and still smiling.

"I'm called Roushi the Volcano. Ya think a little pile of sand is going to stop me?" He brought his fingers together and then lifted them to his lips. A great spray of lava shot out of his mouth and towards Gaara.

Gaara's sand shot up to intercept it, but the lava burned right through his defenses, forcing him to jump back. The sands caught him and lifted him away from the lava, but it was far closer than Gaara would have liked.

He brought his hands together, formed a few seals and then threw them forward. The sand that was floating around him, waiting to protect him should he need it, suddenly hardened into sharp spikes and shot towards Roushi and Han.

Roushi threw himself backwards. As he fell, his mouth opened again to spew more lava out, this time forming a sort of arch over him as it hardened and deflected the spikes.

A thick mist once more formed a protective armor around Han. The spikes passed through it, but came out the other side as little more than wet clumps of sand. The look on Han's face was one of pure disgust as he glared daggers at the steam that continued to save his life.

Roushi rolled out from under his hardened lava arch and began forming seals once more. Gaara threw more sand towards him, determined not to let him get off another of his lava jutsu, but Han's steam quickly intercepted it. Once more Gaara found that his sand grew too heavy to fly and that it lost its cohesiveness.

As weird as it was, steam seemed to trump sand. If Gaara reacted quickly enough, he could contain it and bury it, but he couldn't attack through it. He assumed that the combination of water and fire type chakra was creating Han's steam, meaning that each of its components was strong against the wind and earth chakras Gaara mixed for sand jutsu. Roushi's lava was just straight eating Gaara's sand, it's fires probably aided by the wind in the sand, and earth against earth was a stalemate. From a chakra-types standpoint, he was at an extreme disadvantage against these two opponents.

The terrain, on the other hand, favored him. He didn't have to spend chakra to make sand, only manipulate it. Han would be working hard to pull moisture out of the air or creating the water himself and Roushi would have to go through a similar process to make the fire. It wasn't a big advantage, but it was something. If he could just take one of them out, it would be enough to completely swing the fight in his favor.

Roushi finished his jutsu and the ground rumbled for a second and then seemed to explode as a giant red dragon erupted from under the street and charged at Gaara. Apparently, making fire wasn't _too_ hard for him in this environment.

Gaara lifted both hands, summoning every bit of sand he could hold up to stop the dragon, but the dragon burned right through his attempt at defense. The wall of sand slowed the attack down, but only for a second. Never before had he encountered something like Roushi's lava attacks. It wasn't something that could be blocked, at least not by any of his normal techniques. In the air like this, with no time to think, let alone form the necessary seals to create a dense enough sand to hold back the lava, there was no way he could protect him for long against such an attack.

He threw himself backwards, falling off the sand that was holding him in the air for a moment as he attempted to use gravity to speed his flight from the attack. The dragon passed through the spot where he'd been and then swooped down towards him. Gaara's sand moved around him to prepare to change his trajectory before he hit the ground, but it didn't look like gravity had sped him up enough. The dragon was right on top of him!

He turned back towards the ground and saw that he had less than a second to live. He didn't have time to think about what he was going to try, he just reacted. His hand reached down, touched the ground, and then everything went dark.

For a moment, he wondered if hadn't failed. He didn't feel dead, but that might just be because he'd hit the ground at such a high speed that he'd been turned into an unpleasant pile of goo and then had Roushi's lava dragon turn that goo into ash.

Gaara let out a slow breath and concluded that he was probably still alive. If he were dead, he probably wouldn't hurt as much as he did.

If he was right about that, then he was safely underground in something similar to the cocoon he used to use when drawing out Shukaku. He'd never tried to form one so fast, nor to do so while falling towards the ground, but apparently his new level of control of the Ichibi's powers had helped him. He closed his eyes – though nothing changed in terms of what he could see – and placed his hands on the wall of sand in front of him. He could sort of… _feel_… Roushi and Han standing somewhere above him. One of them took a step and the vibration seemed to tremble through Gaara's entire body. A smile slowly slipped across his lips.

With the Ichibi under his control, his power over sand extended beyond just manipulating it, he could feel things through it when he concentrated hard enough.

He spread his fingers and reached towards Roushi. He could feel the sands react. It _was_ possible. He could kill Roushi from beneath the ground, protected from the lava and free from the threat of Han neutralizing his attack with steam. With little more than a thought, he sent the sands racing towards the older ninja's foot, his chakra jumping from grain to grain at nearly the speed of light, bending them to his will as they curled their way up and then sprang to the surface and latched onto Roushi's foot.

The old man was faster than Gaara had given him credit for. The moment the sand moved near his foot, Roushi was in the air. The sand shot towards him, but he hadn't jumped straight up and Gaara couldn't tell where he was anymore. Without being able to actually see Roushi, Gaara couldn't move the sands accurately enough to catch his enemy.

Han had moved as well, unfortunately, but there were a few others who were still on the ground nearby. Some Iwa ninja who had come to watch the fight and those few who had survived his initial onslaught before Roushi and Han arrived.

Gaara pulled them under the ground with the greatest of ease; they didn't even have time to try to escape him. He could feel them struggle, could even feel their terror from this distance. Once, he would have held them for a few seconds, savoring the taste of their fear and the rush he got from ending their lives. That wasn't him anymore. Their deaths were instantaneous and probably painless; the moment they were completely submerged, they were dead.

Roushi and Han would be more difficult, but at least there wouldn't be any potential distractions. Probably the distractions wouldn't have been too much trouble for him either. With Shukaku's powers somewhat under his control – or at least more than they were before – he could handle the other two jinchuriki, keep his siblings safe, and protect everyone else in the village. The invaders' defeat would be just a matter of time once these two were dealt with.

Going back to the surface of the sand was a good way to get killed. Even if he was gaining more and more confidence in his new powers, Roushi's attacks were deadly and Han's defenses were difficult to break through. If he rose up to the surface, there was a good chance that he'd have his face burned off before he got more than half way out of the ground.

Gaara's fingers formed a series of seals and a safe distance away from him the ground began to shift as a sand clone rose out of it. If the clone was destroyed right away, he would at least know where the attacks would come from and could take appropriate precautions. If it didn't get destroyed, it could keep his two enemies distracted while he made his move.

Above him, the clone found that the battle had taken a rather unexpected new twist. His enemies weren't facing him, weren't even looking at the spot where the real Gaara had gone into the ground. Instead, they were looking at two other men standing on top of the ruins of a nearby building.

One of the new comers was almost as tall as Han, his enormous frame covered in a dark cloak with red clouds on it. He carried a large object wrapped in bandages over his shoulder. The other was smaller, but something about his face seemed familiar.

"This is unexpected," the smaller of the two said as his eyes shifted towards the sand clone, "but still not cause for concern."

"What's that?" the taller asked.

"The Ichibi's powers can control the sand, it would seem that he is here as well."

The big man's eyes lit up in what seemed to be delight. "Well, this might get interesting, eh Itachi? Course, Deidara won't like it. I think he had his heart set on capturing that one."

Itachi shrugged. "His feelings are irrelevant… our orders are clear."

ooo

"How are they?" Sasuke asked without greeting when he returned to the hospital where Sakura and Ino were still lying on the floor.

Kabuto didn't so much as flinch nor did he look up from Ino. He had either heard Sasuke coming or was exceptionally composed considering the number of enemies in the village at the moment. "Sakura-san is fine. Ino will live, but…" his voice trailed off for a moment and then he looked up at Sasuke. "The damage to her throat was extensive. Her—" he paused, gave Sasuke a measuring look and then shook his head and said, "Her voice box may have been injured beyond what can be fixed."

Sasuke got the impression that his intelligence had just been called into question and that Kabuto had greatly simplified the diagnosis so he could understand. "We're in a hospital," he pointed out, "there's got to be something here that can help her."

"It isn't a matter of supplies, it's a matter of what is realistically possible. I've been trained by both my father _and_ Tsunade-hime, but there are limits to what I am capable of. No one can just heal any injury. Still, whoever was here before you did a very good job. They probably saved both Ino and Sakura's lives. Without their work, Ino would have been lucky to have lived; speaking would have been out of the question. As it is, Ino might recover her voice eventually, given enough time and effort on the parts of the healers."

Sasuke scowled even as he began to nod in understanding. Sakura would take Ino's injuries badly – probably worse than Ino herself would – but Ino would live, so Sakura wouldn't dwell on it for too long. If anything, she would start annoying Ino by always trying to come up with new and better ways of healing Ino's throat… and the normally talkative Ino wouldn't be able to actually _tell_ Sakura to stop.

There was an irony there that might have made Sasuke chuckle under different circumstances.

"Should we move them?" he asked. "This place obviously isn't very secure."

Kabuto looked both women over carefully and then nodded. "They both seem stable enough to move, but I'm not sure if anywhere else in the village is more secure than here."

Sasuke thought about that for a moment. There really didn't seem to be anywhere else in the village that wasn't under attack. Anywhere that was occupied by people, Kumo seemed to be attacking in some way or other. So, the obvious answer was to go where there _weren't_ any people.

"We'll take them to the Uchiha area," he said as he knelt and gently lifted Sakura into his arms. "No one's there, so there's no reason to attack it. Plus, there are plenty of hiding places that can't be found unless you're either an Uchiha or a Hyuuga and even then, you have to know what you are looking for."

Kabuto lifted Ino with equal care. "Lead the way."

A few minutes later, they were standing in the exact spot where Sasuke had stood when he'd seen his parents killed on _that_ night. Dust covered everything so thickly that he and Kabuto had left footprints as they'd walked across the floor. Sasuke knew he could look around and see dozens of different things that would bring back hundreds of memories, both good and bad, but there was only one spot his eyes sought out.

The dark stain on the floor marked where his parents had collapsed, cut down by their oldest child. In the days following the massacre, he'd scrubbed that spot until his fingers bled, but it wouldn't come out. A part of Sasuke had wondered if Itachi had used some jutsu to stain the wood; a way to torture him further, to keep the pain fresh in his heart until the day he died.

Sasuke hadn't wanted to ever enter his old house again, but his father had been the head of the clan, the best hiding places were here. He forced his eyes away from the spot that marked his parents' deaths and moved across the room. He gently pressed a small panel of wood on the wall and was pleased to hear the soft click as a large section of wall slid back and to the side, revealing the top of a staircase.

"They'll be safe down here," he told Kabuto. "Do you need to stay with them, or will they be okay until the fighting is over?"

"If I had it my way, I would stay," Kabuto replied with a sigh, "but even someone who is as weak of a fighter as I am has to set that aside when his village is under attack."

Sasuke nodded and led him down to the bottom of the stairs. The room at the bottom contained a small couch and a few other pieces of furniture. Ino was given the couch; Sakura was placed on the floor. Sasuke scribbled a quick note explaining to Sakura what had happened, where she was, and that he would be back for her as soon as possible, and then pressed it into her hand. A small fire jutsu was used to light two of the torches on the wall before he and Kabuto returned upstairs and closed the secret door.

Though he wanted to immediately go join the battle, Sasuke wasn't about to leave the room with a clear footprint trail leading towards the secret passage. He hurried to a closet in the hallway, found two brooms that were starting to fall apart after almost a decade of neglect and age, and instructed Kabuto to help him sweep the room. He was careful not to appear to care about the dark spot on the floor as he swept over it, not wanting to betray his feelings to someone he barely knew, but he couldn't keep his eyes off of it while they worked.

It seemed to take forever to erase their footprints and when they were done, Sasuke felt like he not actually hurrying to help in the battle to save his village so much as he was fleeing the sight of the dark spot on the floor. Were it not for the fact that Sakura would be waiting for him, he would have let another decade pass before he entered that room again.

ooo

Hinata fell to her knees next to her father as Hiroshi carefully set him down under her mother's tree. Hiashi's head rested against the base of the trunk, almost as though he were lying with his head in his wife's lap.

Hinata had very few pictures of her mother, but there was one that she had always treasured above the others. It was of her father and mother when they were much younger, not too much older than she herself was now. Her mother was sitting politely, with her legs tucked under her, and her father was lying with his head on her lap, grinning in a way that she had never seen on her father's face. As far as she knew, their marriage had been arranged, but in the picture they looked happy and in love.

"H… Hinata," Hiashi whispered, pulling Hinata from her thoughts.

She lifted his hand. "I am here, Father."

He let out a pained sigh and blood dribbled down from his mouth. "I am dying," he told his two daughters. "You… you will lead… the clan…"

Every word seemed to hurt him. She wanted to tell him to be quiet and save his strength, but she knew it didn't matter now. The difference would be only a few seconds, maybe a minute. Instead she forced herself to listen closely to his final words.

"I was… your mother would have done better… with you. You are like her. Soft… yet strong. I wasn… I didn't know how to raise you, but I am… p… proud that you are my daughter."

Hinata took his limp hand in her own and brought it up to her lips, hiding her tears behind it.

"Trust your heart," Hiashi whispered as his eyes shifted in the general direction of Hanabi, though they were beginning to lose focus. "Hanabi… you were pushed hard, but… always stood under it. You're determination is fierce… and you haven't seen the peak of your strength. S-stand by Hinata… help her."

Hiashi's head rolled back so that he was staring up into the branches of the tree, seemingly unaware of the rain splashing down on his face. He drew in a deep breath that must have hurt him greatly, but he did not let it show. He was beyond the pain now, too far gone to feel it anymore. Strangely, it seemed to give him the strength to speak more easily, though he lacked the strength to speak in more than a whisper.

"I have never said this to you since your mother died, though I've never not felt it. F-forgive me for only telling you this now, when I am about to leave… I love you both."

Hinata felt her chest constrict and a fresh wave of tears began to run down her face. It had been so long. So long that she had waited to hear those words, that she had dreamed of a day when he would say something like that to her. Why did it have to come as a goodbye? Why now, when she couldn't wrap herself in those words and feel the peace that they were supposed to bring? In her dreams those words were supposed to make her feel complete, now they only signaled that something was being ripped away.

"I… I love you too, Father," Hinata whispered into his hand, knowing that she was using them to say goodbye as well. On the other side of him, Hanabi lowered her head until it nearly touched the ground by his ear and softly whispered something to him.

Hiashi didn't die right then, not for another minute or two, but he also didn't say anything. His eyes just stared straight up; occasionally blinking away the rain, while the rise and fall of his chest began to slow. The pain his body was in must have been immense. Whether or not he could actually feel it was hard to say, but it had to have been there.

Hinata knew, though she wished she could lie to herself about it, that her father's death was a long and unpleasant one.

She was openly crying long before his spirit finally left his body, her tears blending with the rain running down her face.

Hinata had no idea how long she'd sat there, holding his hand while Hanabi did the same on the other side. She was dimly aware of Hiroshi standing behind her, watching for danger and prepared to protect her should the need arise. She was thankful that he didn't try to comfort her and merely let her grieve in peace. It was a proper Hyuuga thing to do.

Suddenly the still standing wall of her house crashed down as a loud curse rang out. Hiroshi started to move between her and the disturbance, but stopped when Naruto stepped out of the ruins, covered from head to toe in mud, soot, and blood.

"Hinata-chan!" he yelled in relief as he ran to her. He looked exhausted and even in the dim light she could see that his face was slightly ashen. The blood on his clothing was obviously not just from enemies he'd been fighting.

She gently set her father's hand down on his chest, and started to stand. About half way up she realized that the emotions and the fighting had caught up with her and had robbed her of the strength to actually make it all the way up.

Naruto didn't seem to really notice. His arms slipped around her before she started to fall and pulled her into a tight embrace, burying his face into her shoulder. "I thought I'd lost you," he whispered, his voice tired but full of relief. "I thought I'd lost you again."

Hinata couldn't find the energy to reply, but she found herself relaxing into the hug. It was strange that only a few seconds earlier, she'd been glad that Hiroshi hadn't tried to comfort her, and now Naruto's arms were supporting her and she wanted nothing more than to continue to rest in them. Even stranger was the fact that only a few hours earlier, his arms had been around her and had left her feeling terrified and confused.

She lowered her head onto his shoulder and closed her eyes, feeling the tears burning between her eyelids.

She wanted to say something, to tell him that she wasn't going anywhere or to let him know how thankful she was for his embrace, but the words wouldn't come. Instead she just stood there in silence, appreciating the comfort, but unable to tell him so.

When her mother had died, there had been no arms to find comfort in, grief was a private matter among the Hyuuga. She had often thought back on those horrible nights when she'd cried in confusion and fear over the death of her beloved mother, and wished that someone had broken the traditions and held her so she knew she wasn't alone. She hadn't had time to wonder if she would be similarly alone in her grief over her father, but to have Naruto there, his arms holding her close as her emotions poured out… she could not have asked for more from a friend.

Perhaps that was why she had been glad that Hiroshi had not tried to comfort her. He was Hyuuga and for him to intrude upon the privacy of her grief would have felt awkward. Naruto, on the other hand, was the complete opposite. Even if she was out of practice at dealing with his completely unHyuuga ways, she expected it from him and actually welcomed it. Hiroshi stepping up and holding her in his arms while she poured out her grief would have been as unnatural as Naruto sitting quietly at a formal clan meeting and following all the proper decorum.

The inkling of an idea or concept was in those thoughts, somewhere, but she wasn't totally sure what it was or what it meant. At the moment, it didn't really matter and her thoughts slowly faded into the warmth of Naruto's shoulder and the faint beating of his heart.

Hinata had no idea how long she stood there, probably less than a minute, though it felt much longer. Certainly it was long enough that she was startled when Naruto's back stiffened and he took a step away from her. She almost expected him to have the look on his face that he'd had when he had almost… done whatever it was that he was going to do back in his apartment. Her brain assumed that he'd have that same look of horror and disgust and it took her a second to realize that wasn't what she was seeing this time.

There _was_ horror, but it wasn't directed at himself nor, for that matter, at her. Naruto's eyes had found her father… her father's body, anyway… and he'd apparently realized what had happened. How he'd missed it or what he'd thought she was crying over before that moment was hard to say. Perhaps he'd just been concentrating on holding her and hadn't thought to look around.

Whatever the reason, he swayed unsteadily and it was suddenly she who had to reach out to hold him. "Shit," he whispered. His blue eyes rose until they met hers and then they quickly shifted away. "Hinata-chan… I'm so sorry."

He was quiet for a long moment, his back stiff, and the strange horrified expression on his face, but then he gave himself a little shake and suddenly looked a little more like the old Naruto.

He swallowed hard and then, in an earnest voice, softly whispered, "He loved you, you know. And I'm absolutely positive he was proud of you."

There was no way Naruto could have known those things, of course. He was only trying to offer her some peace in the midst of her loss. Still, her father had just said the same thing in his final words, so Naruto's consolation wasn't just a nice-sounding lie.

Her father was gone, things would never be the same again, but… he loved her and was proud of her.

She didn't remember saying goodbye to her mother, she'd been very young at the time, but Hinata had always wished that she could have had a final, closing conversation with her. Her father had held on long enough to give her that closure and to give her what she had wanted most from him all of her life.

It didn't make things okay, it didn't take away the years of not hearing those words or the pain of losing him just when he gave them to her, not by a long ways, but it helped.

Hinata let out a slow breath and then stepped back from Naruto, giving him a small smile of thanks. She wanted to sit down under the tree and continue to cry over her father, but there wasn't time for that. He was dead and that meant that she was – for the moment at least – the leader of the Hyuuga. It was a responsibility that she didn't feel remotely ready to shoulder, but there weren't any other options.

"Hiroshi-san, please carry my father's…" the word caught briefly in her throat, but she forced it out anyway, "…b-body for me. The village is under attack and those Hyuuga who are still here will need leadership. We will grieve when the crisis is over."

Hinata lifted her head, squared her shoulders, and then walked towards the gates to the courtyard and out to the spot where the Hyuuga who were not actively defending the village were still gathered. A part of her was sure that she was unfit to lead a genin team, let alone the whole Hyuuga clan, but she couldn't afford to fail them.

She _wouldn't_ fail because she was Hyuuga Hiashi's daughter and, in the end, he had believed in her.

ooo

As Yugito was dragged away by members of Root, Danzo almost allowed himself to indulge in a smile and a chuckle. Uzumaki Naruto might have been a strange surprise and Tenzo's refusal to follow orders was an annoyance, but so far things were going well. So long as Kumo was beaten back, the day would be nearly perfect.

Konoha was well on her way to retaking her rightful spot at the forefront of the ninja world. The First, Second, and Third Hokage had done their best to weaken Konoha with their foolish policies, but the damage was already starting to be undone.

The Nibi would be extracted from Yugito as soon as a viable host could be found. Perhaps, in a bit of irony, he would return Yugito's body to Kumo once he was done with her. It seemed somewhat fitting to once again give Kumo a body that did not hold that which they desired.

Uzumaki Naruto was a potential problem, but he would either be brought under control or dealt with in much the same way as Yugito. Danzo knew he would have to be careful about how he gained that control or dealt with the boy, but fortunately Naruto was still mostly known as the Kyuubi's jinchuriki. His impressive victories during the Chuunin Exam would have made him far more popular, but his subsequent disappearance and the mysterious circumstances surrounding it helped blunt that potential danger. His victory over the Nibi could have been problematic, but only a few knew of it and most of them would not speak without permission. Naruto would not be overly missed nor mourned if he suddenly went missing.

The other bijuu would eventually need to be brought back to Konoha in some fashion or other, but that could wait. The Kyuubi was the strongest of them and the Nibi had some powerful abilities as well, with those two under his control, Danzo knew that the other nations would think twice about attacking the Fire Country again. In fact, there was a chance that with those two under his power, he'd be able to form alliances that would allow him to return some of the bijuu to their rightful owner without resorting to attacking the other villages or allowing attacks on Konoha.

He'd been planning this for a long time. He'd even occasionally wondered if he would ever get the chance to put his plans into action. He'd been forced to make political maneuvers that called more attention to him than he normally preferred and had even had to make a deal with Orochimaru, but it would all be worth it if all of the bijuu were under his control.

With the power of both the Senju and Uchiha clans in his body and the might of the bijuu at his disposal, the rest of the ninja world would have no choice but to accept Konoha's dominance. No one would be able to challenge Konoha, and those who thought about it would be crushed.

And then, at long last, there would be no doubt that he was the strongest and greatest of the Hokage. Not only would he have at long last surpassed Hiruzen, but also all others who had come before him.

Finally, there would be peace and Konoha would be secure.

ooo

The turning of the tide wasn't immediate, but it definitely began with the fall of Yugito. For almost an hour, few of the ninja in the village even knew for sure that it had happened. The fighting was taking place almost everywhere in the village, both within buildings and in the streets. Messengers (of even just those who were in the know) stumbled into ambushes, traps, and large battles – many of them died before they even managed to tell a single person – keeping that important piece of information from reaching those who needed to know it.

But the news did spread.

Soon, nearly every ninja in Konoha knew what had happened. The Leaf-nin cheered, knowing that the terrifying jinchuriki had been beaten at long last. Those from Kumo felt their spirits fall as they realized that their chances for complete victory were evaporating. It wasn't that they couldn't still win, but it felt that way and feelings gradually became reality as the tide swung farther and farther in Konoha's favor.

The use of the "sleepers" – as the Leaf-nin who had been turned into unwitting time bombs were called by the Cloud-nin activating them – kept the battle from turning into a complete rout, but there weren't nearly enough of them to counter the boost in morale the Leaf-nin had received nor the inherent advantage of fighting in their home village.

Only the greenest of ninja on either side failed to grasp that the battle had already been decided.

Of course, a battle can be decided and casualties still occur. Dozens of ninja on both sides died after the eventual outcome had become widely known and accepted, many more were injured.

Sasuke didn't care that the battle's outcome had been decided. He didn't even care that some of the ninja he fought and killed were trying to retreat. Kumo's ninja had invaded his home, had forced Naruto into a battle that he shouldn't have had to fight until he was more recovered, and had almost killed Sakura. Their attack had also led either directly or indirectly to the death of the Third Hokage and to him having to cover up a key detail in that murder, leaving him wondering if the Fifth Hokage wasn't the real murderer. And, perhaps most importantly, he'd been forced to go back into his parents' house and step across the spot where he'd seen them laying in a pool of blood at Itachi's feet. He intended to punish them for those transgressions.

There were so many conflicting emotions and thoughts raging back and forth within his mind that he'd been forced to grab onto the only emotion that made sense at that moment just to keep his sanity. Instead of allowing himself to feel the fear of losing either Sakura or Naruto, to examine the implications of Danzo ordering the death of the Third, or to wallow in the despair that always accompanied memories of _that_ night, Sasuke chose to get really, really, _really_ angry.

Fortunately, his village was full of people he could take his rage out on.

He ducked low under a lightning jutsu, drew his sword, and sliced the Cloud-nin almost completely in half without breaking his stride. As his sword was still exiting the first body, a second Cloud-nin stabbed at his face with a sasumata. The long pole weapon with the U-shaped blade at the end was an unusual choice for a ninja, but had some advantages against sword and kunai users.

Against a Sharingan, it might as well have been a long stick.

Sasuke's eyes had been following the movement of the weapon before the Cloud-nin even started to swing it forward. He'd known exactly where it would be and when he would need to react. He ducked his head, allowing it to barely miss him, and then thrust his hand up. The wooden pole shattered just below the beginning of metal blade. Sasuke caught the blade before it fell more than a centimeter, turned it, and drove it into the Cloud-nin's chest.

With a flick of his wrist, he shook the first ninja's blood off his sword and returned it to its scabbard. "Let's go," he called to Kabuto.

The medic-nin had briefly knelt next to a Leaf-nin lying in the mud, but at the sound of Sasuke's voice he reached out and closed the young man's eyes and then stood and nodded.

They traveled for several minutes before Sasuke noticed that they were being followed. Their shadow was skilled, but the rain and Sasuke and Kabuto's pace were not ideal for trailing someone. Sasuke was about to signal to Kabuto and turn to face their follower, but at that moment someone large and imposing stepped out of a side-alley.

Sasuke's Sharingan spotted the Cloud-nin instantly and mapped out where the large hammer the ninja was carrying would travel and at what point it would connect with his face. His brain realized almost as quickly that the ground was too muddy and slippery for him to dodge. Since doing nothing would be a good way to die, he tried to plant his feet anyway. As he pushed his weight onto his heels, in an attempt to leap to the side, his feet slid out from under him.

He was falling, but the hammer would still reach him before he dropped low enough to escape the blow. Given the size of the hammer and of the man carrying it, even a glancing blow would break bone and – since the hammer would now hit him under the chin – kill him. His only real hope was to sacrifice an arm in an attempt to blunt or redirect the attack, but the moment he started moving he could see that he would be too late. His hand would hit the back of the hammer, but not the front. The attack would still connect.

It was a strange thing to know in the blink of an eye that you were almost certainly dead.

Stranger still when you were saved in the _next_ blink of an eye.

Two kunai struck the handle of the hammer with incredible accuracy, severing the middle and forefinger on the hand the Cloud-nin was holding hammer with. The shock and pain were enough that he lost his grip on his weapon and it went flying off to the side, allowing Sasuke to reach the ground and go sliding through the mud.

Sasuke didn't bother to breath a sigh of relief or wonder how he'd been saved, there would be time for that later. He slid on his back though the muck for about a meter and then dug his heels and left hand into the mud and scrambled to his feet. His right hand went for his sword.

The Cloud-nin was trained well enough to push the pain out of his mind and do what he could to face his opponent, but he'd been disarmed, couldn't form seals without his fingers, and even when you push pain from your mind, your body still feels it and has trouble moving. He was slower than he probably would have been. Even if he'd been at full strength, Sasuke doubted that he would have possessed too much of a danger.

He was, after all, facing an Uchiha.

The big man swung his bleeding fist, but Sasuke's Sharingan had seen it coming probably before the man was even consciously aware of what he was going to do himself. In less than a second, he'd ducked under the fist and was behind the Cloud-nin, his sword already slick with blood.

Sasuke didn't turn to watch the man realize he was already dead and fall to the ground. His eyes were already searching for his rescuer.

The orange pants made it fairly easy to spot him and the big, stupid grin that had spread across the bond's face made it easy to identify him without looking at any other features.

Naruto was leaning against the wall of a nearby building, everything about him said exhausted, but he didn't look nearly so tired or resigned as he had in previous days.

Naruto stared back at him for a moment and then gave a nonchalant wave of his hand. "Yo."

It was actually a pretty good impression of Kakashi's normal greeting.

Sasuke couldn't help but smile. Despite everything that had happened that day, seeing Naruto like this… it made things better. Of course, it wasn't the _real _Naruto (the color of the chakra was a little off, something Sasuke had come to associate with Naruto's favorite jutsu), but if the shadow clone was acting like this, the real Naruto probably was as well.

"Where's Sakura-chan?" the clone asked, pushing away from the wall with what looked like a bit of effort and then walking towards Sasuke.

"She was hurt, but she'll be okay. We took her and Ino to a safe place."

At the word "we" the clone glanced at Kabuto, his smile vanishing in an instant. He slowly turned to face the young medic-nin and his eyes narrowed.

"Naruto…" Sasuke started, but was cut off by the clone's hand snapping up in his direction.

He stared long and hard at Kabuto and then brought the hand that had silenced Sasuke up to the back of his head, scratching at his neck as he grinned sheepishly. "Heh, sorry about earlier, Kabuto-san. After spending so much time with Orochimaru, I kinda forgot who I was, who my friends were… even stuff like the Fire Country and the village didn't feel like reality in my mind. I was still a little crazy when I attacked you; I hadn't really remembered who I was again, you know? No hard feelings?"

Kabuto was slow to return the smile, but eventually he nodded in understanding as he walked towards Naruto and Sasuke. "You went through something terrible, Naruto-san, that you are able to realize when you mistook nightmare for reality is a miracle in and of itself. There is nothing to apologize for."

Naruto's smile became less embarrassed and more genuine as he reached out and patted Kabuto on the shoulder. "Alright, let's get going. One of me spotted a small group of Cloud-nin not far from here, we should head in that direction and see if they're still around."

Sasuke let out a sigh of relief. He wasn't as good as Sakura at defusing confrontations with words. If Naruto's clone had attacked Kabuto, Sasuke wasn't sure how he could have stopped him without resorting to violence himself. Thankfully, Naruto's improved attitude seemed to have come with a heavy dose of sanity as well.

With that behind them, they could move on to more important matters. "How are _you_ doing?" he asked Naruto. "You look like you're stretching yourself too thin."

Naruto chuckled. "You've been spending too much time with Kakashi-sensei. Don't worry, besides me there's only a few others out there. Less than a dozen, I promise."

Sasuke nodded in resignation. "Fine, lead the way. The sooner we start helping clean up this mess, the sooner the battle will end." A moment later, he and Kabuto were following the clone onto the roof of a nearby building and then hurrying in the direction that the clone claimed they could find a group of Cloud-nin.

Following behind Naruto's clone, Sasuke saw neither the blond's eyes narrow nor the scowl that replaced the "sane" smile that had previously been on his face.

ooo

Gaara's sand clone wasn't sure what to do as the larger of the two newcomers, Kisame, attacked both Han and Roushi. Was he supposed to help Kisame against the invaders, retreat and let them fight it out so he could deal with whoever was left in the end, or just kill everyone and let the gods – if they existed – sort them out. Roushi seemed to be at least similarly confused by the sudden change in the battle as he leapt away from the charging Kisame, but didn't immediately attack. Han, predictably, moved to meet Kisame head-on.

Even someone as large and imposing as Kisame was over a head shorter than Han, though it was hard to say how much of a difference that would make. Just based on their builds (and a fair amount of experience in fighting Han), both men seemed to possess incredible physical strength. The clone felt certain that a taijutsu battle between the two of them would be an epic event, but Kisame wasn't interested in a taijutsu battle. Just before the two of them met, he reached back and grabbed the object strapped to his back, swinging forward what looked like the trunk of a medium sized tree that had been wrapped in bandages.

Han ducked under the weapon with the grace of a seasoned taijutsu user. As he rose, he was still in position to attack, but dodging the attack seemed to have slowed him down considerably. Kisame's foot lashed out at him, sending him tumbling away.

Some of the bandages slipped off Kisame's weapon revealing the top of something the clone Gaara couldn't describe. It was definitely gray and clearly covered in spikes (or something that looked like them, anyway), but beyond that, he wasn't sure what it was. He'd never seen or heard of a weapon that looked anything like it.

Han was slow to get up, his body already injured from his fight with Gaara, but he was chuckling as he rose. "Cute trick," he said as he tilted his head to the side until his neck popped, "I don't know what you did, but I felt myself get weaker right before you kicked me."

Kisame rested his weapon against his shoulder. It looked like he was grinning behind his high collar. He lifted his left hand and waved for Han to try again.

"What are ya doin'?" Roushi yelled from the pile of rubble he'd landed on. "Use the Gobi, ya damned moron!"

"No!" Han snapped back. "He's not using jutsu, so I won't degrade myself by taking any of that bastard's power. This is a fight between warriors."

"He's got a sword!"

Han shook his head and shifted his body to prepare to launch into another attack. "You wouldn't understand, old man. A physical attack is still a physical attack. This is my kind of fight, and I'm going to fight it my way. There's never been anyone who could match me in a straight fight, not even you, and it won't start here."

"Mighty confident, aren't you?" Kisame snickered.

The sand clone couldn't tell if Han was smiling, but his voice made it sound like he might be. "With good reason; every man I've ever faced who's come at me with fist or weapon hasn't lived to learn his lesson."

"Scary. Maybe I should start using jutsu then…" he paused, as if considering the idea, and then shrugged, "Nah. As long as that old man stays over there and the kid keeps out of it, I'll take you on the way you want."

This time it was Han waving Kisame forward. "Then let's see it."

The two of them leapt at each other once more, Kisame's sword cutting through the air while Han's fist was cocked back. Again he ducked under the sword, but this time his speed increased and his fist slammed into Kisame. The large man's head rocked back, but he didn't leave his feet. Instead he changed the direction of his sword and brought it back towards Han. Han leapt away easily, but not quick enough as the blade – or whatever passed for a blade on it – swept across Han's chest.

"What the hell is this?" Han demanded as he fell back, clutching his chest in surprise.

"Samehada doesn't cut people, it slices them to pieces. The next time it touches you, it'll cost you an arm or a leg."

Han smiled, then chuckled, then threw his head back and laughed long and hard. "You're going to cut off an arm or a leg, are you?" He laughed some more and then shook his head. "Ah, I couldn't have asked for more out of an opponent. Strong enough to stand against me and cocky enough to say something so ridiculous! You're my perfect enemy!"

They charged at each other again, Kisame once more preparing to swing his sword at Han. This time the large jinchuriki didn't try to dodge or duck under the sword; he made a sort of small hop and drove his foot down into the street. The earth shattered under the impact. Kisame stumbled as the ground under his feet shifted unexpectedly and his swords path through the air became awkward.

Before he could regain his footing, Han was on top of him. He grabbed Kisame's sword hand with his left hand while he drove his right fist into Kisame's stomach. Kisame doubled over, blood flying from his mouth as the air in his lungs was forced out of his body. Han pivoted and kicked Kisame in the face, sending him flying into the remains of a nearby building.

Kisame hit the wall with a grunt as a spider web of cracks exploded out behind him. He began to slump forward, but couldn't complete the motion before Han on him once again. The large jinchuriki's fist was pulled way back, ready to deliver a finishing blow, but Kisame wasn't nearly as out of it as he appeared. With grace that didn't seem possible in one so large, Kisame slipped to the side just before Han's large fist could connect with his face.

Han's fist went through the stone wall behind Kisame like it wasn't even there. The wall didn't even shatter, Han's hand just created a small hole that most of his arm sank into. Kisame's knee came up into Han's stomach, and then he smashed his forehead into Han's face. Han fell back, but apparently wasn't taken completely off guard by the attack because as he fell, part of the wall that he'd punched a hole in came with him, slamming into the back of Kisame's head and sending the other large man crashing to the ground as well.

Kisame was the first to rise to his feet. He lifted the sword, Samehada, with ease and swung it at Han while the jinchuriki was still struggling to his feet. Han saw the attack coming and ducked low, placing one hand on the ground as Samehada slid through the air just above him. With a growl he dove forward, tackling Kisame and lifting him off his feet for a second before driving him into the ground. He quickly twisted to the side while keeping one hand pushing down on Kisame's chest, pushed off with his feet so he's almost doing a handstand, and then drove his knees down into Kisame's stomach. Kisame gasped in pain as Han quickly rose stepped back, and then kicked him. The kick spun Kisame in the air twice before he crashed back to the ground.

Han began to move in for the kill once more, moving like a man who knows his victory has been assured.

Gaara's clone let his eyes drift to Kisame's companion, wondering if Itachi would move to save the larger man. Itachi was watching the fight with what seemed to be bored disinterest. He didn't look like a man who was watching a friend being killed.

Han reached Kisame and lifted his foot, preparing to stomp on his opponent's head. "Thank you for the fight. Maybe we can do it again in the next life." His foot came down.

Kisame's hand shot up and caught it.

For a moment, they stood there and then Kisame pushed Han away and rose easily to his feet. "Is that all you've got?" he asked with a chuckle.

Han stumbled back in surprise, but quickly recovered. His right hand shot out, fist aiming right for Kisame's head.

Kisame didn't dodge. He also didn't fall back after the blow struck.

Han looked down at his hand and stepped away. "What the hell is this?" he demanded.

"Use your bijuu," Kisame told him with a smirk. It was at that moment that the clone Gaara realized that Kisame didn't even seem to be injured. He didn't have a scratch on him, in fact, despite having been cut and bruised several times during the battle with Han. "Samehada's still hungry and you're already out of chakra for him to eat."

"Kisame, don't waste time," Itachi said in a quiet, but forceful voice. "We still have two more to capture."

Kisame glanced back at him and shrugged. "Yeah, guess you're right. Samehada can fill up on them."

Han was still looking at his hand in surprise when Kisame's sword swung at him. Just before it connected with his knee, he spun and leapt over it, arching his back and landing on his hands before springing up and away. As he landed, red chakra flowed up and around him, forming not only a cloak but also three tails and an elongated head with four prongs coming off of it that almost seemed to be ears or horns.

"Ugh, I'm never going to hear the end of this!" Han grumbled in disgust. He brought his hands together to form seals, but Kisame closed too quickly. In an apparent attempt to buy more time, Han kicked at his oncoming opponent.

As Han's foot lashed out, Kisame planted Samehada in its path. Han's foot connected solidly with the sword and was instantly pierced by several spikes that seemed to reach out for him.

One tail disappeared.

Kisame used his sword as a support and leapt forward, kicking Han in the chest. The large man was sent flying. Kisame pivoted, pulled Samehada out of the ground and then threw it. The handle extended, appearing almost snake like in it's movements, and even the sword bent unnaturally, twisting towards Han like a hungry predator. Han hit the ground at almost the exact moment that Samehada crashed into him.

Another tail disappeared.

Kisame smiled wickedly and flicked his wrist. Samehada pulled away from Han, who roared in pain and blood sprayed out of him. When the sword returned to Kisame, he gave it a sharp shake and something large fell from it.

The sand clone's eyes widened. It was Han's right arm.

Kisame turned towards Roushi, giving them a self-satisfied smile. "Who's next?"

Roushi's fingers instantly came together and a great spout of lava shot from his mouth.

Kisame's hands also came together, forming his own seals. He opened his mouth as a flood of water poured out and formed into a huge wave. The wave slammed into Roushi's lava and then flowed around it and on towards the old man. Roushi quickly formed more seals and then spun in a circle as lava flowed out of his mouth. The wave crashed into the spot he'd stood and then continued flowing down the street a short ways further.

Gaara's clone was certain that never in its history had Suna seen so much water at one time.

As the water level dropped, a large black object could be seen standing where Roushi had previously been. Kisame walked confidently towards it, Samehada slung carelessly over his shoulder. With a mighty kick, the black stone shattered, revealing a cowering Roushi, who quickly backed away when he realized his cover was gone.

Kisame smiled. "Don't worry, it'll only hurt for a moment."

His fist lashed out, connecting solidly with Roushi's face. Roushi melted away as Kisame cried out in pain and jerked his burned hand back. A hand reached out of the street just behind Kisame and grabbed him by the ankles, pulling him down into the ground as Roushi rose up.

"Stupid young 'uns," he grumbled. "Always thinking they're smarter than they really are."

He arched back, his mouth swelling and preparing to spew lava all over Kisame's exposed head. Kisame spit water, hitting Roushi in the face before he could launch his attack. Roushi stumbled back and before he could recover enough to use his jutsu, the ground around Kisame cracked and the large ninja pushed himself free.

He looked down at his burnt hand and then reached down and picked up Samehada. The handle of the sword seemed to twist around his wrist and suddenly the burns on his hand began to fade and then vanished completely.

"You can't beat me, old man," he said with a smirk.

Roushi spit. Steam rose from where it hit the wet ground. "We'll see."

"We already have," a voice said behind him. Before Roushi could turn, he was on the ground.

Itachi stood behind him, Han's limp form hung slung over his shoulder.

Kisame's face fell. "Just when it was getting good…"

"There's still one more and it won't be long before others from both Suna and Iwa arrive. We aren't here to fight the war, just to capture our targets."

They turned towards the sand clone. The clone looked carefully at Kisame, who didn't even seem winded after his fight with Han and Roushi, much less injured, then at Itachi.

"A sand clone, huh?" Itachi said as he calmly walked forward. "The distance you can travel is greater than that of a water clone, but not so great that the real you is outside this village." He looked around, his strange red eyes seeming to take in every detail of the destroyed area. "The real you is very close." He glanced at Kisame and nodded as his own fingers came together.

Kisame threw Samehada at the clone who smiled and reached out to catch it. The strange sword struck the clone in the chest, passing part way through before being trapped. For a second, the clone looked confident that it had just removed a major obstacle, but then all of the chakra that was holding it together began to drain into the sword.

The clone became just another pile of sand and fell to the ground.

Under the street, the real Gaara felt the clone's demise a second before the ground above him was ripped open by Itachi's jutsu. He looked up, shocked, and found himself staring into Itachi's red eyes.

The genjutsu had him before he even realized what was happening.

For the second time that day, actually for the second time in less than an hour, he was trapped in a world in which he was powerless. In this one, he was not being forced to witness terrible memories or completely impossible wounds that refused to let him die, instead he was in a world in which everything was colored wrong and was pinned to the ground by nails through his hands and feet while crows circled overhead. One of the crows circled closer, landed on his chest and began moving towards his eyes which he couldn't seem to close.

_"Ashk for help."_ A slightly slurred voice whispered in his mind as the crows beak began to open and close greedily. _"_Let_ me help."_

Gaara knew that voice. It was supposed to be gone forever.

"I won, your power is mine!" he yelled into the darkness.

_"Our contest won't end that quickly."_ Shukaku chuckled and then hiccupped. _"For the time being, you're ahead. So, I'm yours to command. Let me help, don't fight me for a moment."_

"I know what you'll do."

_"I'll _sshave_ you."_

Gaara was fairly certain the demon meant "save" and didn't believe him, but as the crow began to peck at one of his eyes while another crow descended, he decided that he didn't care. He'd gone through Han's genjutsu, he wouldn't make it through another round of something similar. He relaxed and felt the Ichibi's influence pull at him.

And then his eyes snapped open and he was free of the genjutsu.

Itachi's eyes widened and Kisame swung Samehada down into the hole at him.

Gaara vanished deeper into the sands, surrounding himself in darkness but once more able to see far more clearly than he'd ever thought possible. He could feel Itachi and Kisame where they stood, could feel Roushi's slow shallow breathing where he lay unconscious in the street, he could even feel the bodies of the ninja he'd killed crushed earlier.

He knew he couldn't stay hidden for long. Somehow Itachi was able to track him, which meant that he'd be using another Earth jutsu to try to dig Gaara out again. Gaara pushed chakra into the surrounding area, Itachi was welcome to try to overpower him.

Once again protected, he needed a way to either escape or kill these new enemies. Kisame was incredibly powerful and could either heal himself or couldn't be hurt, given the lack of wounds after his fight with Han. His sword also had a strange ability that would make him very difficult to deal with. And Itachi was… somehow, Gaara had the strange idea that Itachi was even stronger. Taking on both of them at the same time – especially while he was fatigued from his earlier fight and all the chakra he'd used just getting into the village – would not be a good idea. Perhaps if he had complete control over Shukaku's powers, things would be different, but the demon's comment about him only being ahead at that moment made Gaara nervous.

Plus, Temari and Kankuro might come looking for him soon and they would definitely not be able to handle these two. He'd accomplished his mission of distracting Iwa's forces while the ninja he and siblings had saved the previous day did their best to rescue any survivors and possibly even the Kazekage, there was no point to fighting these new enemies.

Of course, if Itachi could follow him, then escaping would probably be pretty difficult. He certainly couldn't go running towards Temari and Kankuro if he wanted to keep them out of this. What he really needed was a way to get Kisame and Itachi to chose to leave him alone. Doing that, however, would require them wanting something more than they wanted him but the only thing they seemed to want was…

A crazy, stupid plan formed in his mind. It was almost worthy of Uzumaki Naruto.

Gaara rose to the surface at what he hoped was a safe distance from Itachi and Kisame. They turned towards him and he scowled. "You took my kills," he informed them in a voice that he hoped sounded the way he used to when he was still trapped in the darkness. "The blood of those two belonged to me."

"Get over it," Kisame retorted.

The ground beneath their feet began to shift, flowing in a spiral as a whirlpool of sand formed. Itachi and Kisame leapt onto a nearby building, but Roushi was pulled into the center.

"My kill," Gaara growled as he closed his hand into a fist.

Itachi and Kisame's eyes were instantly on Roushi. Kisame started to jump from the building but Itachi's hand stopped him. It didn't matter, they'd confirmed what Gaara suspected – that they intended to capture the jinchuriki alive – and they wouldn't have been able to stop him by this point anyway.

Roushi vanished into the vortex and then red sand shot out of spot where he'd disappeared.

"Damn," Kisame hissed. "The Leader's going to be pissed."

"He'll have to be satisfied with two," Itachi replied calmly, turning back towards Gaara.

"He'll be satisfied with none!" Gaara yelled, as the sands of the street rose up and shot towards Itachi and – Gaara hoped it would appear – Han. Itachi leapt aside before it reached him, but the sands simply changed direction and continued the chase. Kisame attacked the column of sand with his sword and some of it fell to the ground, but Gaara simply added sand from a different area and kept up the chase.

"My kill!"

A wall of sand rose up, ready to bury Itachi, Kisame, and Han, but the two strange ninja once more avoided death. Gaara they would retreat soon because he wasn't sure how much longer he could keep it up. Besides, if he fought Itachi and Kisame for too long, Roushi would suffocate. It would be a shame to use so much chakra making it appear that he'd killed the old man – even going so far as to move the bodies of his other victims so he could use their blood to add to the illusion – only to actually kill him through neglect.

"This kid is starting to annoy me," Kisame growled as he began to form seals once more.

"Kisame," Itachi said quietly, "enough. We can't take him in the desert while trying to protect the Gobi. Beating him would require sacrificing the piece that we already have."

Kisame looked disappointed, but slung the sword over his shoulder and sighed. "You hear that, bastard?" he yelled towards Gaara. "You're off the hook this time, but next time we meet, we'll suck you dry!"

Gaara replied by shooting several sand shuriken in their direction. "I'll drink sake from your hallowed out skulls!" he promised, quoting one of Han's more bloodthirsty lines to reinforce the image he was trying to portray.

The two ninja leapt from the building they were standing on and vanished from sight.

Gaara let out a sigh of relief and felt his body sag, he needed food and rest, but couldn't get it just yet. He willed the sands to bring the body of his former enemy towards him as he slipped once more beneath the ground, and then they moved Gaara and his captured enemy as far from the two strange ninja as possible.

When he came across a small cluster of people, he rose partially to the surface and found his brother, sister, and several other Sand-nin fighting against a dwindling number of Rock-nin. At the sight of Gaara, the Sand-nin seemed to grow even more confident. At the sight of a limp Roushi next to Gaara, the Rock-nin lost all hope. It was over a few short minutes later.

"We need to go," Gaara told them when the last Rock-nin fell.

Temari nodded. "Father…" her voice trailed off for a second and then she pushed through. "Father is dead. Suna's Kazekage is no more."

Gaara accepted this information without a noticeable reaction. "Then our mission here is done."

"Suna hasn't been freed," Baki pointed out. "Iwa still holds it."

"Suna is lost. There aren't enough of you to retake the village, let alone hold it… and there are strangers here who will make things difficult. We're leaving."

"What are we going to do with _that_?" a Sand-nin asked, pointing at Roushi.

Gaara glanced down at him. "He's coming with us."

"He's a monster!"

Gaara looked at the man and raised an eyebrow as if to ask "what do you think I am?" The man looked away, abashed.

"Stay if you want, but we are leaving." He looked at Temari and Kankuro and said, "Let's go."

The remnant of Suna followed the three siblings as they made their way quickly and quietly out of the village and into the sands. There were a few small fights before they were safely away, but they managed to avoid the majority of Iwa's remaining forces.

Iwa apparently was aware that something had gone amiss. Less than an hour after Gaara and the remnant of Suna had escaped from the village, a great cloud of dust began to rise above it. The Rock-nin knew they couldn't hold the village, especially now that they'd lost the two jinchuriki who had made the conquest possible in the first place. They also knew that whatever had caused the tidal wave of sand was probably still out there. So they did what any conqueror does when taking a city that it can't hold, they destroyed it so no one else could use it. Buildings were leveled, anything that could be burned was.

By the end of the day, the only thing left of Sunagakure was the mountains that had surrounded it and the ruins of the buildings that had once stood proudly against the sands. Gaara knew that it would only take the desert a few days to erase all but the mountains.

Still, Sand could be removed and buildings could be rebuilt. Many lives had been lost, but those meant less to Gaara than those of his brother and sister who had survived.

Now they just had to figure out where to go next, what to do with their prisoner, and perhaps get some information on who Itachi and Kisame were and why they were attacking jinchuriki.

ooo

From atop the head of one of the Konoha's past Hokage, the two men in dark cloaks continued to watch the battle unfolding below them.

"The fighting is winding down," the larger noted.

"Well, it's about fucking time. It feels like we've been sitting here for months and this rain is pissing me off."

"We'll have to move carefully. If we strike too quickly, we'll be attacked by both sides, but if we don't enter the village now, they'll be more on guard against us."

"So, what? We trade waiting down there for waiting up here?"

"For the time being."

"Shit… why the hell did I get stuck with this goddamn mess of a mission? Fine let's just get out of the rain."

"We won't have to wait long, just until the winner starts working on rebuilding. I doubt we'll have to wait past morning."

"Why are you being so cautious? This isn't really like you."

"Can't you tell? Kumo lost."

"From up here, they all look the same to me."

"With a jinchuriki on their side, they should have been able to pull out the victory. Something strange is going on down there."

"Eh, whatever. Let's just fucking get it over with. I'm bored."

"Yes. Let's go."

o

o

A/N: No excuses this time, I'm just slow. Also, I have a feeling that this chapter shows my desire to get this war stuff over and done with (and probably my growing boredom with it), at least for the time being. Hopefully it didn't feel as rushed and poorly written to you as it did to me, but it is what it is. Next chapter will have some fighting, but mostly it will be a "character" chapter… something I've been missing for a long, long time. Whether or not that means I'll actually be quicker about getting it out is hard to say. I'm hoping that the summer will bring a timelier update schedule, but with my luck it will just bring more hours of work and school rather than a chance to do things I actually like!


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